A new NFU Cymru survey of Welsh farmers has highlighted the damaging impacts of Welsh Government’s Control of Agricultural Pollution Regulations on farming businesses in Wales.

The survey of over 400 farmers has laid bare the staggering costs many businesses have had to suffer in order to comply with the regulations.

The research also underlines the unworkable record keeping requirements and the low levels of farmers confidence in the regulations themselves, as well as those responsible for administering the requirements.

On Wednesday 18 December, members of the NFU Cymru Water Quality Review Group met with Dr Susannah Bolton, the independent external chair overseeing the statutory review of the Control of Agricultural Pollution Regulations, to present her with the findings of the report.

Of the 65% of Welsh farmers who had either already invested in infrastructure, or who were planning to imminently, 30% said it had come at a cost of over £100,000, with 12% stating the cost was over £200,000.

Of those 146 farmers who had already invested in infrastructure to adhere to the regulations, less than 40% had received grant support towards the costs citing the lack of availability of grant support and the complexity of the grant application process.

Almost half (47%) of farmers said they had required planning permission to reach compliance with the regulations and the feedback received clearly stated the difficulties farmers had endured with this process.

The survey highlighted key issues with the rules relating to record keeping, the storage requirements, closed periods and nitrogen limits.

A resounding three quarters (73%) of the farmers polled did not believe the agricultural pollution regulations would lead to an improvement in water quality. Just 2% said that they had already seen improvements.

84% of respondents identified that the closed periods for the spreading of organic manures with high readily available nitrogen and manufactured fertilisers were having a negative impact on their businesses.

The outcomes from the survey have informed an NFU Cymru Evidence Submission handed to Dr Susannah Bolton by members of the NFU Cymru Water Quality Review Group, who said they would welcome the opportunity to work with Welsh Government.