Farmers will no longer have to plant trees on 10 per cent of their land to qualify for funding, the Welsh Government has announced.

Announcing changes to the controversial Sustainable Farming Scheme, Huw Irranca Davies said: "It was clear changes were needed - we said we would listen - and we’ve done just that".

The revised scheme will remove the rule of farms having to have 10 per cent tree cover.

This will be replaced with a new Universal Action requiring an undertaking for a tree planting and hedgerow creation opportunity plan.

The set figure for tree cover has been replaced with a scheme-wide target which will be set after discussions with the Ministerial Roundtable.

Other amendments include merging the three Animal Health, Welfare and Biosecurity actions into a single simplified action and making payments at the Universal Layer on Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and including grazing rights on common land within the Universal Payment, reducing the overall number of Universal Actions from 17 to 12.

In making the announcement from the Royal Welsh Winter Fair, the Deputy First Minister, said: "Farmers are at the heart of communities right across Wales, and they play a crucial role in our economy and food production. As stewards of our land, they also have a key role to play in protecting and restoring nature and tackling the climate emergency.

"I am pleased to be able to publish a revised Scheme Outline today which sets out the significant progress we have made through collaboration with the Roundtable.

"Whilst the progress we have made collectively is significant, this is not the final Scheme. The Roundtable has agreed that the Scheme Outline published today will be used to undertake an updated economic analysis and impact assessment.

"I am extremely grateful for the immense effort that has been made by all members of the Roundtable, an Officials Working Group and the Carbon Sequestration Evidence Review Panel.

"We are developing a scheme which is designed to support all farmers in Wales, based on the completion of a set of Universal Actions. These Actions will be familiar to farmers in Wales, whether beef, dairy, arable, upland, lowland, extensive or intensive. They are actions many of them take on a day-to-day basis.

"The final Scheme decision will be made next summer, based on further discussions at the Ministerial Roundtable and evidence including the economic analysis and impact assessment. This will be earliest opportunity we will have to provide details of the payment rates.

"I remain committed to listening to and working with our stakeholders to ensure the final Scheme we deliver next year is a Scheme that will help support the economic resilience of farming businesses, the sustainable production of food, our climate and nature objectives and our rural communities for current and future generations.

"I believe the changes set out today to the Scheme Outline will make the Scheme available to all farmers who wish to participate, and strengthen the Scheme’s contribution to our climate and nature commitments.

"We’ve come a long way - and there is still more work to do."

Country Land and Business Association (CLA), Victoria Bond Director – Wales, said: "We are proud to have played a key role in the Sustainable Farming Scheme Ministerial Roundtable process, representing our members’ views and driving forward practical solutions. Today’s updated SFS shows a shift in the right direction, as a consequence of this consultation. This progress reflects the impact of stakeholders like the CLA working constructively with government and the Deputy First Minister’s commitment to collaboration. While there is much more to be done, this milestone demonstrates that positive change is possible when our sector’s expertise is truly heard and valued.

FUW President Ian Rickman said: "The work of the three groups over recent months has been intense as we've worked through and agreed, in principle, a revised Scheme design. We've welcomed the collaboration and opportunity to engage at this level and believe we are now in a better place as a result.

"Today’s announcement however only marks the end of the beginning, and there remains a high level of detail to work through and confirm, with the updated economic analysis and impact assessments of crucial importance.

"With a more accessible and flexible Scheme design following significant changes, we must now ensure that the associated budget and payment methodology deliver real economic stability for our family farms in Wales as we face a backdrop of many other challenges."

NFU Cymru President Aled Jones, said: "Today marks an important step forward in the development of the SFS, whilst there remains a huge amount of work to be done on many aspects of the scheme, including the detail under each Universal Action and payment rates, I am confident that if we continue to work in partnership the SFS can help to deliver on our ambitions for food, nature, climate and communities."

Wildlife Trusts Wales Director, Rachel Sharp, said: "The Welsh Government have successfully brought together a wide spectrum of organisations to listen to farmers' concerns. Today's announcement we hope shows how these concerns have been addressed. However, the need to help farms become resilient to climate change means that excluding key elements of water management and shelter for livestock will need addressing in higher tiers of the scheme. We do recognise the continued commitment of farmers in the scheme to manage existing woodland and habitat, along with retaining the 10% habitat scheme requirement. However, going forward it will be critical to support the many farmers who want to go beyond this if we are to see nature restored in Wales. To achieve this we now need to see a focus and sufficient budget in the higher tiers of the SFS. We need to enable farmers to respond to the climate and nature crisis as only they have the ability to achieve this for Wales."