Welsh Government announce funding for organic as part of extended Habitat scheme

Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, has confirmed a number of schemes to support farmers and landowners in 2025, before the Sustainable Farming Scheme is introduced in 2026.

The schemes include the Habitat Wales Scheme and the Organic Support Payment, which will be offered next year with all eligible individual farmers able to apply. Extensions to existing Habitat Wales Scheme Commons agreements will also be offered for 2025. A new Integrated Natural Resources Scheme will be introduced to help groups of farmers, foresters, land managers and others to work together at a landscape, catchment, or pan Wales level to enhance and sustainably manage natural resources.

Soil Association Head of Policy Cymru Andrew Tuddenham said: “It’s good to see Welsh Government maintaining schemes to support nature-friendly farming in 2025. It’s vital that the schemes will be sufficiently funded to enable more farmers to adopt nature-friendly practices, alongside those farmers who already farm with nature and who have been left vulnerable following recent cuts to the agri-environment budget in Wales.

After concerning news last year that funding may not be available for our regenerative pioneers, it’s also welcome to see Welsh Government continue to acknowledge the benefits of organic farming in Wales by maintaining a support scheme. Organic farming ticks all of Welsh Government’s Sustainable Land Management goals, and there’s rising consumer demand for organic food and drink. UK sales have doubled in the last 12 years and grown by nearly five per cent in the last year, but the latest statistics show production in Wales failing to keep up with this demand. A Welsh Organic Action Plan, long overdue, would help join-up policy and practice across government and industry to provide a more sustainable future for farmers and shoppers in Wales."

Read the press release from the Welsh Government on their website.