For the first time in several years, Wales has a dedicated cabinet secretary with responsibility for agriculture and rural affairs. Lesley Griffiths’s appointment comes at a challenging time for Wales’s farmers. Debbie James met her at The Senedd to hear how she plans to deal with some of the key issues in Welsh agriculture.

LESLEY Griffiths points to a large bag in the corner of her new office in Cardiff Bay, bulging under the weight of its contents. This is just some of the reading material the new minister is wading through to better understand issues important to Wales’s farming and rural sectors.

She is unfazed by the challenge and knows that any gaps in her knowledge will be plugged when she engages with grassroots farmers now that the show season is underway.

What is certain is that farmers won’t be slow in giving her their frank views on the difficulties many experienced in securing their Basic Payment Scheme subsidies in a year when they most needed them.

Many farmers in her Wrexham constituency have land in both Wales and England so she is well aware of delays cross-border farmers have endured in securing their BPS payments. “It is unfair that they are penalised. I am not blaming Rural Payments Wales or the Rural Payments Agency but we need to find a solution to this.’’

Arguably, the farmers who have experienced the greatest financial pain from BPS payment delays are dairy producers, hit by a volley of milk price cuts. She admits to being shocked when she learned of the prices farmers are paid for their milk but says there is nothing that the government can do to control either prices or milk supply.

“It is very difficult for us to have any influence on milk prices but what we can do is to provide, through Farming Connect and other initiatives, the support that farmers need to make the best business decisions.’’

She is also keen to appoint a so-called ‘dairy champion’ at the earliest opportunity. “We will be giving prominence to this, my hope is that we will have someone young, inspirational and innovative to lead on this.’’

Ms Griffiths, who has two daughters, is keen that young people are not denied opportunities to farm.

“We are seeing more young people going to university to study farming who weren’t raised on a farm.’’

She acknowledges that county council farms have been the route into agriculture for generations of young farmers and is concerned that local authorities are selling off farms to pay for other services.

“Local authorities have their own challenges but I’m keen that we don’t lose this resource. It is really important that there are small tenant farms available for young people to start out in farming.

“I don’t have any influence on the management and funding of these farms, it is up to the individual local authorities, but I will be writing to all 22 to get a clear picture of their intentions for these.’’

Access to the countryside is another contentious issue. Last year the Welsh government published a green paper on access and a proposal that is a source of concern is one that would allow access to all land for so called ‘responsible recreation’, such as walking.

Ms Griffiths doesn’t dismiss those concerns but says it is important that the countryside can be enjoyed by all. “It is a way of ensuring that we improve physical activity in Wales but we do need to strike the right balance between open access and animal health and welfare.’’

In fact, she is a keen walker and regularly spends her Sundays on a long walk. That opportunity could be more limited as her time is absorbed with getting to grips with a demanding portfolio but as the brief also includes responsibility for matters relating to the environment she just may well find a way of combining the two.