Poll: Welsh voters back transition to nature friendly farming, believe won’t affect food production

Polling conducted by More in Common, on behalf of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), found that voters were more than twice as likely to support the transition to the Sustainable Farming Scheme (44%) than oppose it (18%), but levels of public knowledge surrounding the SFS remain low – with 52% of respondents saying that they had not heard anything about the scheme. This low level of public awareness may be affecting support, with voters being more than fifty percent more likely to say that they supported the new scheme when its aims were explained to them (44%) than when they were not (28%).

Rhys Evans, a livestock farmer in Meirionnydd, North Wales, who also acts as the Cymru manager for the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), said: “It’s good to see such a level of public support for the Sustainable Farming Scheme and especially for integrating trees on farms, given how divisive a topic this has been over the past few years. As this is public funding, it's important that Welsh people back how it is being used to invest in nature-friendly farming. However, when more than half of those polled still do not know about the SFS, it is clear there is still work to do by the Government and industry leaders, including organisations such as NFFN Cymru.

“Whether it's producing food, helping restore biodiversity, providing access to nature, mitigating climate change or using natural solutions to protect communities from flooding, nature-friendly farming touches so many aspects of people's lives. Raising awareness of how the SFS promotes this can only help drive further public support for an ambitious, properly funded transition to nature-friendly farming right across Wales."

In Wales, the current Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), which pays farmers based on the acreage of the land they farm, is being phased out over a three-year period, beginning in 2026, and replaced by the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS). The SFS provides financial rewards to farmers for managing their land sustainably, promoting biodiversity and wildlife restoration, and taking steps to mitigate the effects of climate change such as drought and flooding. This is in line with transitions happening in other countries in the UK, where EU-era subsidies which pay farmers based on the size of their farms are being replaced by new schemes which support the transition to sustainable farming methods.

Commenting, Laura Dunn, Senior Associate at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said: “The Government’s National Security Assessment has warned of the risk presented by climate change and large-scale biodiversity collapse to UK food security (2). But, as this polling shows, despite high levels of popular support in principle, public awareness about the Welsh government’s Sustainable Farming Scheme remains low. That’s concerning because the SFS is essential to supporting farmers on their journey towards net zero, which is scientifically the only way to stop climate change. And until we do reach net zero, the floods and droughts that have hit Welsh farmers hard in recent years will continue to get worse – putting our food security at growing risk”. 

Earlier this year, an abridged version of a UK national security assessment on biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse was published as a result of a Freedom of Information request lodged by the think tank Green Alliance. It warned that biodiversity loss was in danger of putting at risk ecosystems on which global food systems depend and that the UK would be unable to maintain its food security in the event of ecosystem collapse without significant improvements to the UK food system. Analysis by the ECIU has also highlighted the growing impact to consumers of extreme weather associated with climate change, finding that climate change alone added £361 to the average household food bill in 2022 and 2023 (3).