Capítulo III: SUCESIÓN TESTADA 172 Concepto.
LAS ASIGNACIONES TESTAMENTARIAS
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environmental organisations). Finally, some noted there could be a role for different specialist organisations to provide support tailored to the needs of the individual farmer.
The current advisory offer – evolution not revolution
5.8 There is currently a wide range of advice
available to farmers from both the public and private sector. Any future advisory service would need to build on best practice and integrate with existing structures to ensure there is no duplication. 5.9 One of the main sources of advice for farmers from the public sector is Farming Connect. The Farming Connect programme invests around £7m per year in providing services to farmers. The majority of the programme is procured and delivered by 18 development officers and a framework of specialist companies.
5.10 Within the programme, there is an advisory service which provides business planning and technical advice (for example on grassland and crop management). Each instance of support is capped at a value of €1,500 and is part funded by the farmer. The current Farming Connect model is moving towards providing more targeted support to farmers. It is due to finish in 2022.
5.11 Glastir also provides publicly-funded advice to farmers. The Welsh Government employs contract managers who provide on-farm advice to help farmers select relevant Glastir advanced management options and capital works. The contract managers agree the contracts and perform yearly on-farm progress checks.
5.12 In addition, the Welsh Government has employed a number of Common Land Development Officers based throughout Wales. They worked in conjunction with existing Grazier Associations and helped to form new associations to facilitate scheme entry.
5.13 The Welsh Government has commissioned an independent research company (SQW) to look at the effectiveness of Farming Connect. The findings of this research will be important in shaping the design of any future advisory service.
Proposals for the advisory service
5.14 We propose to provide an advisory service that facilitates farmers to enter the scheme, ensures they have the support they need to deliver outcomes and provides support to develop more competitive and resilient farm businesses.
5.15 In designing these proposals, we need to reflect on the appropriate scale of provision. On the one hand, a greater degree of support should lead to better outcomes and better tailoring of advice to specific farms. On the other hand, a bigger support offer would be more costly and would risk diverting important funding away from farmers. We are consulting on the appropriate balance. This balance need not stay the same over time – in particular, it is likely that a greater degree of support may be needed in the initial scheme entry phase.
5.16 This section describes the range of potential functions an advisory service could offer at each stage of scheme entry and operation.
Outreach
5.17 During the transition period, the advisory service could proactively engage with farmers across Wales through a variety of means to offer an advisory visit and the development of a Farm Sustainability Review. This would be available to all farmers to help manage their transition from operating within the EU to a different market environment. The advisory service would also provide information about the Sustainable Farming Scheme, allowing farmers to become more familiar with the range of opportunities, so they can decide whether to engage further.
Sustainable Farming and our Land | 61 5.18 To support tenants to access the scheme,
the service could engage with landowners to explain the benefits of participation and encourage dialogue between tenants and landlords about entering the scheme.
Expression of Interest
5.19 This is the first stage in the application process and we propose it is online as standard, supported by the advisory service. The adviser would use the information provided by the farmer in the Expression of Interest to tailor the Farm Sustainability Review. Farm Sustainability Review
5.20 We propose the advisory service would then facilitate entry to the Sustainable Farming Scheme through a Farm Sustainability Review. Working together, an adviser and the farmer would identify business needs, environmental opportunities and the types of actions needed to deliver SLM outcomes. This is described further in Chapter 4. Following the Review, a Farm Sustainability Plan would be prepared.
5.21 Throughout this process, the advisory service could offer specific, additional support for farmers with tenancy agreements and those who have rights to common land. This could take the form of specific commons officers, similar to the Glastir model, who support collaborative working between commoners. Technical advice on tenancy agreements could be offered to facilitate scheme entry.
Ongoing support
5.22 A critical function of the advisory service could be to provide ongoing support once farmers are in the scheme to enable the efficient delivery of environmental outcomes and to develop the farm business. The service could provide a range of technical advice on the implementation of the actions contained within the Farm Sustainability Plan.
5.23 The advisory service could help support farmers to access training or capital investment opportunities identified during the Farm
Sustainability Review and signpost to other support services where necessary. The level of ongoing support would be tailored to the individual farm's needs.
5.24 As with previous schemes, a variety of support could be available and we would need to reflect on how this could be delivered in the most efficient way. One-to-one support may be appropriate in some circumstances, but in many cases demonstrations and peer group support may be more useful.
5.25 There could also be additional advisory support for new entrants or those who wish to collaborate with others in the delivery of outcomes.
Delivering the advisory service
5.26 Reflecting feedback from Brexit and our Land, we propose that the advisory service is independent from any body that is responsible for enforcing regulations. This would support a trusting working relationship between the farmer and the adviser. 5.27 The proposed advisory service would need to provide evidence-based advice which is relevant to the needs of the farm. The adviser’s role is to support farmers. To do so they would need to be able to have two-way, sensitive conversations with farmers about scheme entry and a farm’s needs – in Welsh and English.
5.28 We are interested in your views on how the service should be delivered. The main decision to be made is whether the service should be made up of Welsh Government staff, or whether it is it better for the Welsh Government to procure external delivery. Both models are currently in operation through Farming Connect (delivered by procured development officers with a framework of supporting advisers) and Glastir (contracts managed by Welsh Government staff).
Sustainable Farming and our Land | 63 5.29 This is not a binary decision and a mixed model
may be appropriate. For example, the core of the service could be Welsh Government staff, who offer a general service and draw on external specialists as necessary. This is particularly relevant given that the skills required for an adviser to carry out the Farm Sustainability Review may be different from those required to provide outreach and ongoing support. 5.30 There is a wide spectrum of how extensively this support could be delivered. It could be light touch, with predominantly online advice
complemented with paid-for technical support, or the support could be more personal, with the scheme providing one-to-one support and technical advice. 5.31 Given the scale of the scheme and the potential cost of running an advisory service, we are seeking views on the most appropriate and practical level of support. There are a number of relevant considerations to determine what might be appropriate:
• As previously mentioned, the scale of the service may change over time, with a greater number of individuals needed during scheme entry and transition. This is no different from the introduction of previous agri-environment schemes.
• As noted above, while a more extensive offer will entail more costs, the ultimate purpose of advice is to improve the sustainability of farm businesses.
Therefore, investing in the quality of the service may yield better financial outcomes for farmers in the long-run.
• The intention of the Sustainable Farming Scheme is for agreed actions to be less prescriptive than previous agri-environment schemes. We want to avoid the overly-prescriptive, highly-defined activities and instead offer farmers choices about how to deliver. The degree of active support needed for the scheme may therefore be less than under Glastir and Tir Gofal, where advisory support was often needed to interpret the way in which prescriptions were to be applied.
• Technology will help deliver the service in a more efficient way than previous agri-environment schemes. Advisers will have access to more information on-farm and support could be delivered remotely in some cases. Administration of the scheme can be more streamlined, with less paperwork.
5.32 Regardless of the delivery model, the service would need to be operational for the transitional period described in Chapter 8. We would also need to ensure the advice is provided to a high standard. Currently, Farming Connect quality assurance is provided through the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS). We will reflect on the options for providing independent quality assurance for the proposed new service.
Consultation question 3
We are consulting on the functions of an advisory service, the scale of delivery and who should provide the service. What are your views? You may want to consider:
• whether you agree an advisory service should be established • the functions of the service
• what the relationship should be between the advisory service and the Welsh Government • the appropriate scale of delivery
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