CLA Cymru has expressed concern following a comment by the Wales First Minister in Senedd questions yesterday suggesting that farming contributes “less than 1 per cent” to Wales’ GDP and “boy are they supported with £250m of funding per annum.”

Eluned Morgan was answering a question by local Senedd Member Samuel Kurtz in anticipation of an updated statement on the Sustainable Farming Scheme next week: “How confident are you, First Minister, that this latest iteration of the SFS will not lead to a mass protest on the steps of the Senedd?”

The First Minister started by saying that farmers were well within their rights to protest. She emphasised the time spent by the Deputy First Minister in listening to famers and environmental groups about their concerns and how they would like to see the Sustainable Farming Scheme work. She said that the needs of different sections of the community should be balanced.

Eluned Morgan agreed that “the agricultural community needs to be supported”, but added “and, boy! Are they supported,” mentioning “£250m of funding per annum.” “That’s quite a big amount of support for a sector that contributes less than 1 per cent to the GDP of the country.”

She went on to imply that farmers should do more to tackle the challenges of climate change: “The challenges of climate change are challenges for the agricultural community themselves,” and concluded that she hoped for a “constructive response from the agricultural sector” in the light of the efforts made by the Deputy First Minister.

The County Land and business Association believes that the First Minister’s framing is “deeply misleading”, at best failing to “reflect the foundational role agriculture plays across multiple sectors of the rural economy” and at worst demonstrating “a deep misunderstanding of the rural economy.”

CLA Cymru is the only organisation placed at the heart of all of the rural sectors.

Victoria Bond, Director of CLA Cymru, said:

“This statement risks undermining the months of constructive engagement between Welsh Government and rural stakeholders in developing the Sustainable Farming Scheme. It also reveals a lack of understanding about the structure of the Welsh rural economy. Farming may represent a modest proportion of direct GDP, but it is the bedrock of a wider supply chain worth billions. From food processing and exports to tourism and environmental delivery.

“If we reduce agriculture to a line on a GVA chart, we miss its vital function: sustaining 90% of our landscape, underpinning our food security, and delivering the raw materials and stewardship that so much of our national economy depends on. We urge all politicians, especially as we approach the 2026 election, to speak to the facts and to the full value of rural Wales.”

Thomas Homfray, Vice-Chair of CLA Cymru, added:

“Assessing value on the basis of GDP is hopelessly reductive – a short-termist, superficial approach that has contributed to many of the crises we now face. It also directly contradicts the Welsh Government’s own curriculum, where my children have spent the year learning about the critical importance of food production and nature recovery.

“Does the First Minister not see farming and the countryside as essential to the solution? Rural Wales is not a cost centre; it is a strategic asset that delivers value across all fronts.”

CLA Cymru is calling for cross-party recognition of the sector’s real-world contribution ahead of the Royal Welsh Show, where it will formally launch its rural manifesto ahead of the 2026 elections: THIS IS RURAL

The manifesto includes six evidence-based asks to support the next Welsh Government in unlocking rural economic potential through farming, land use, housing, tourism, energy and digital infrastructure.

It’s a route to the 74 per cent of electorate who are rurally based and the foundation for the next election.