6. How is the Minister helping agricultural businesses to diversify? OQ59637

The Welsh Government offers a range of support to assist agricultural businesses to diversify. The subsidised advice, mentoring and training provided by Farming Connect complements our grant schemes. Alongside our dedicated diversification grant, our horticulture and food business investment grants offer opportunities and support for farm businesses to branch out.

Thank you for your answer, Minister. One area I'm particularly concerned about, and I know the farming community are concerned about, is when Welsh Government encourage, rightly so, farming businesses to diversify, they then feel like they're being ultimately punished by particular policy decisions of the Welsh Government—the tourism tax being one, for example—when those farm businesses have been asked to diversify into those types of areas.

But the particular issue I wanted to raise with you, Minister, is NRW's consultation on game birds. The farming community certainly hopes, and so do colleagues on this side, that this won't morph into a ban on the shooting of game, because aside from the environmental benefits, the economic importance to the sector is considerable. Several shooting businesses exist because agricultural businesses have diversified. So, can I ask the Minister to make representations in Cabinet to persuade her colleagues, in order that we don't see a policy position that ends up in the banning of shooting game that would have a real devastating impact on many rural farming businesses and communities?

I certainly haven't had complaints from the agricultural sector that if they diversify they would then feel they were being punished. I think it's nearly 50 per cent now of non-micro farms across Wales that have had some diversification action, so I think you can see how important it is for our farming businesses to build that resilience that we were talking about before and is needed. It really does provide an opportunity, I think, for farmers to protect their businesses from the impact of price fluctuations, for instance.

You refer to a consultation that's currently going ahead. You wouldn't expect me to pre-empt it. It's not in my portfolio. But these things come along, as you say, as policy. Obviously I make representations, if needed, but looking at the consultation that's going ahead, I think we need to await the responses.