Tir Gofal Breakthrough
26/07/05

CLA Wales has achieved a major breakthrough in the drive to prevent cuts of up to 30% in Tir Gofal payments. The first Tir Gofal working group meeting won support from the Welsh Assembly Government, Countryside Council for Wales, and the two farming unions for the CLA's proposed reworking of the calculations on which the payments are based.

The new formula is being carefully studied by WAG in preparation for the next meeting in early September. It involves factoring in the previously overlooked Tir Gofal scheme management costs.

"The point is that this has to be looked at as a completely new system", says CLA Policy Advisor Sue Evans. "The old system of calculating Tir Gofal was based on the old subsidy geared system. We believe that WAG needs to take into account the changes made because of SFP and it is necessary for payments to farmers to take the actual costs into account.

"WAG has agreed to cost out the payments per hectare in terms of supplementary feeding, purchased additional forage and the control of undesirable plant species. They are going to look at each individual payment to assess the additional costs generated by the scheme and then factor them in.

"It means changing what are called the 'assumptions' which will then include those additional costs. The old 'assumptions' represented subsidy foregone and of course that is now not an issue".

Sue Evans added that she is heartened by the WAG's positive response to CLA Wales's proposals. She said CLA Wales had put in many hours of work to come up with a solution which would satisfy Europe's stringent rules and produce a fair payment for the work involved in producing environmental benefits.

Many farmers and landowners in Wales are affected by the proposed cuts. The amounts vary but can run into tens of thousands of pounds, money which land managers stress is not profit but payment for a service which cannot otherwise be delivered.