I have finished in January my report on the last of my study areas, the Cambrian Mountains, around Rhayader. You can find on this page all the documents resulting from this work.
Summary: To put it in one word it was a very complementary study to Bala area (2020), as a result there are less archetypes but those present emphasize the difference with the first upland study area more than anything. The Elan valley and large tracts of mountain land are a very impressive feature but with their tree planting and the lake they also tell a story of extrativism. There are many more self-sufficient farms and market focused beef and sheep farm, I also found the new PGI specific to the area to be promising. A possible explanation of the reasoning behind the drop in SC/farm/ewe numbers in those areas, a move that seemingly results from a combined policy and market change with a relatively dense hill farming networ. I also tried to do further focuses on challenges that are being faced by farms now or on integrated livestock finishing unit (like IPU, ILFU has the benefit of encompassing more of those including pork and does not carry any negative luggage).
Conclusion of the study: Like in Bala upland farmers are first andforemost herdsmen, and have been for a longer-time, the development of ILFU was therefore a logical move for this study area that knew a farm-income steep reduction on farms in the 2010s, particularly in the hills. Contracting and
diversifying the farming business including with tourism or contracting (going
back to the labourer role for Hereford) offers an important share of work for
the younger generation in the farming community. The concentration of holdings and land has accelerated in the last decade, driven by income needs but had started before in this area with a dense hill farming community.
The reliance on subsidies is hugely different compared to Bala, much lower for hill farms still directly linked to who controls the land and, now, the mountain. The unprofitability of couple farms is not so much linked to areliance on but to the low market value of outputs. Even the best autonomous farms do not reach very high levels of family income. Reading the economic results shows that it is done just enough in order to enable the farm to sustain more family workers. The differentiation of agricultural products with the PGI yields little results for now, we would recommend continuing the efforts in this direction, by aligning targeted markets (light finished lambs) and product differentiation strategy improvements.
As in previous study areas; farmers plan theirfarming system on a lifelong basis. For individuals, capital investments are a heavy burden and sometimes unattainable that can be limiting in an area challenged in terms of farm economic. This discriminates strongly between those who can, and those who can’t do but also tends to select farms that will be able to survive.
Future evolution, in the current environment where the CAP is due to be replaced by a new policy, with many farms located might be challenged to get access to those. Uncertainty has taken its toll, combined to an income challenged farming area, with many needing a generation renewal, in that scenario competing land use for example for tree afforestation can easily gain a foothold as well as remunerating ILFU.
Théo Lenormand
02-2023
