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CLA Cymru said it worked out at a '12.9 per cent reduction in the rural affairs budget', hollowing out around £50 million in support for farming. But the Welsh Government said Basic Payment Scheme payments would be maintained at £238m for 2024

The application portal for SFI will be closed between December 27 2023- January 2 2024. Any draft SFI applications that are not submitted before December 31 2023 will be lost and not recoverable when the portal reopens again in the new year

A group of Welsh farming and environmental organisations have written a letter to the First Minister, asking for budgetary certainty for the rural affairs portfolio ahead of draft budget being published later this month

In a letter sent to the First Minister, NFUS president Martin Kennedy highlighted a series of 'hollow promises', received from both the previous and current deputy first ministers, that withdrawn money for agriculture would rightly be returned to the sector

More than double the funding was on offer in the second round of the Slurry Infrastructure Grant. But with dwindling confidence in the dairy sector farmers are cautious about where, when and what to invest in, questioning whether now is the right time to apply

When it comes to the application process, the delivery and the options available to all farmers, there are some inconsistencies, which the industry hopes will be ironed out in the next SFI announcement

The selected projects will now begin their two-year development phase to finalise arrangements

Mr Drakeford said ‘no single part of the Welsh Government can regard itself as immune', including agriculture

The poll of over 1,000 adults in Wales, conducted by YouGov found 82 per cent support the Welsh Government providing financial support to farmers to produce food

Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the CAAV, said farmers can help reduce emissions through slurry storage