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Welsh farmers have created a symbolic display of 5,500 pairs of wellies on the steps of the Senedd to represent the jobs forecasted to be lost through Welsh Government's Sustainable Farming Scheme proposals.

The stark visual display was put together in Cardiff Bay on (March 6) the eve of the closing of Welsh Government's ‘Keeping ²ÝÁñÉçÇø Farming' Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) consultation.

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Welsh farmers

Each of the 5,500 wellingtons outside the Senedd building represents an agricultural job that is projected to be lost based on 100 per cent take up of the scheme, as based on figures from Welsh Government's own impact assessment.

Welsh Government

NFU Cymru member and display organiser Paul Williams said: "Seeing these 5,500 wellies lined up on the steps of the Senedd is an emphatic depiction of the potential jobs that will be lost to Welsh agriculture if these proposals go ahead in their current guise.

"What makes our industry so special is the people and families for whom it's more than just a job. We have wellies of all sizes and colours on display, representing those who have farmed for decades and whose families have farmed our land for generations, as well as those with smaller feet but big ambitions for a future in our industry when they are older.

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Farming families

"The MSs who have looked out on the display today from the Senedd must understand what is at stake and commit to ensuring the final Sustainable Farming Scheme proposals don't harm Welsh businesses and communities."

NFU Cymru has long warned of the impacts of aspects of the proposals contained within the SFS scheme outline - not least the 10 per cent tree planting and habitat requirements - on the sector's productivity and viability.

Sustainable Farming Scheme 

NFU Cymru president Aled Jones said: "Bringing this impressive project together has been an outstanding achievement by our members. What they have achieved is an emotional and impactful reminder of why NFU Cymru has continued to lobby so vigorously for so long against multiple areas of the consultation proposals.

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"We simply cannot see Government move forward with a scheme that puts 5,500 Welsh farming jobs in jeopardy, never mind the additional knock-on this will have to further jobs in the food supply chain - the impact of which has not been assessed - and our rural communities.

Job losses

"²ÝÁñÉçÇø across Wales have made their voices heard in a variety of ways during the Sustainable Farming Scheme consultation period. Welsh Government must show that it has listened by undertaking a major overhaul of the scheme to avoid the shocking scenario highlighted by its own modelling."

Farmer protests

Samuel Kurtz MS, Shadow Minister for Rural Affairs said: 

Rural communities 

"I urge the First Minister, the Rural Affairs Minister and all Senedd Members to go and see the display for themselves and I challenge them not to be moved."