Welsh Resilience Report February 4, 2014 12:00 am A review, conducted by Kevin Roberts, into the resilience of Welsh farming has been published. Mr Roberts is the former director general of the NFU in England and Wales. He has made 41 recommendations to the Welsh Government to improve resilience of the farming industry – i.e. improve itsability to cope with shock events (including weather). This includes a tiered and tailored approach to business development services, a substantial programme of investment in farm infrastructure and further work to pursue the concept of weather-event insurance products for farmers. The review recommends the maximum 15% shift of funding from Pillar 1 to Pillar 2; an option that was taken by the Welsh Government. 58% of Wales in classed as Severely Disadvantaged Area. The review recommends increased support in these areas by: ensuring higher level agri-environment support is available for all sole enclosed moorland revisiting the current stocking regimes in the uplands to address the issue of under-grazing by introducing minimum stocking rates. prioritising upland beef and sheep farms for the encouragement of non-agricultural business diversification and start up support. The review also recommends a mid-term analysis of the impacts of CAP Pillar I reform on the Welsh agricultural industry. The full report can be found at http://wales.gov.uk/docs/drah/publications/140128reviewresiliencewelshfarmingen.pdf
