CLA Wales responds to Welsh Government research
CLA Cymru has responded to new research commissioned by Welsh Government titled Climate Adaptation in Agriculture Study - Stakeholder Engagement.
The researched illustrated that Welsh farmers are already adapting to a more extreme and unpredictable climate.
The process engaged agricultural stakeholders through a series of knowledge-exchange workshops involving 63 farmers and eight industry representatives. Across all workshops, participants consistently reported that climate conditions in Wales are becoming more extreme, less predictable and more variable. Wetter and milder winters, hotter and drier summers, increased storm events and shifting seasonal patterns were widely observed. While total annual rainfall was often seen as broadly unchanged, rainfall was increasingly described as more intense and concentrated over shorter periods. These changes are already affecting land condition, infrastructure, water availability, disease and pest pressures, and day-to-day farm management decisions.
The research shows that many Welsh farmers are responding through practical, incremental and business-led adaptations rather than radical system change. Common responses include adjusting stocking rates, breeds and grazing timings, prioritising soil health and grassland resilience, changing cropping and reseeding strategies, investing in water and grazing infrastructure and making selective use of trees and hedges. Decisions remain strongly influenced by land type, farm scale, labour availability, economic viability and family circumstances, with farmers emphasising that effective adaptation must be farm-specific.
While most participants anticipated continuing along existing adaptation pathways focused on efficiency and selective investment, considerable uncertainty remains beyond the next five years due to market volatility, climate unpredictability, policy direction and regulatory pressures. The findings underline that adaptive capacity varies and is shaped by economic, structural and policy factors, highlighting the importance of flexible, outcome-focused policy frameworks and continued investment in trusted advice and knowledge exchange.
CLA Cymru welcomes the Climate Adaptation in Agriculture Study. Its findings reflect quite well what our members across Wales are telling us. Farmers and landowners are already adapting day-to-day to more unpredictable weather, longer dry spells, intense rainfall and the growing risks these bring to soil health, livestock welfare, forage production and overall business stability. However, many find existing grants and schemes, including elements of the Sustainable Farming Scheme, which we absolutely support, and Growing for the Environment, too prescriptive and insufficiently flexible for different farming systems and more local conditions. Welsh Government has shown it is willing to adapt the SFS and are starting to consider, with stakeholders, how the SFS can be improved to ensure more widespread uptake across the sector. We welcome progress on multi-year funding that has been announced by Welsh Government but progress on the collaborative layer scheme is vital for farmers to continue to mitigate climate change and improve biodiversity while remaining viable and delivering all the things the public needs.
CLA Cymru wants future agricultural support to prioritise longer-term business resilience. This means adequate multi-annual funding, schemes that reward practical outcomes rather than rigid prescriptions and genuine freedom and confidence for farmers to invest in the measures that work best on their land. We remain ready to work with Welsh Government to deliver support that is practical, flexible and effective for rural businesses right across Wales.
You can read the research online.
