10/11/2026
Navigating the requirements of a new scheme can be daunting but for farmers in Wales entering the new Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) the process is being supported by Farming Connect.
Dewi and Gaynor Owens are among dozens of farmers to date who have tapped into the Sustainable Farming Scheme Road Map Action Plan service offered through the Farming Connect Advisory Service.
The Owens’ farm with their son, Aled, on the outskirts of Llannon in Carmarthenshire at 97-hectare Cwm Howell Farm.
They were dairy farming but three years ago exited milk production and now produce stores from a herd of Limousin, Hereford and Aberdeen Angus suckler cows to sell through Carmarthen Livestock Market at 22-24 months old.
Funding provided by the Welsh Government via the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) has been important to their business, but they said it made sense for them to get on the front foot by entering the new SFS at the earliest opportunity ahead of that direct support ending.
“We didn’t want to delay making the transition as we would need to enter it once the BPS ends, and we are also financially better off by doing that,” says fourth-generation farmer Dewi.
Although they were certain about entering the SFS, what they were less confident about was whether they met the qualifying criteria for the base payment, the Universal layer.
The SFS Road Map Action Plan provided them with that guidance.
The service, which is 80% funded by Farming Connect, gave them access to support and advice from agricultural consultant Ben James, of the Brynmair Farming Partnership.
Following a meeting at the farm, Ben produced a bespoke SFS Roadmap Action Plan for the Owens’s to help them understand their current position and to map out a clear, step-by-step path on what they needed to do to deliver for the Universal actions.
There were requirements in that layer that they were already delivering – they met the targets on woodland and habitat provision for example, but others that they fell short on, such as completing courses on rodent control and cattle mobility scoring.
Ben advised them which courses they needed to complete to ensure that not only their application could be processed unhindered but to gain valuable knowledge to help them in their business going forward – these courses were all fully-funded by Farming Connect.
Dewi and Gaynor’s business has undergone significant changes in the last three years, and the ending of the BPS represented another big adjustment.
But navigating their way through entering the SFS and committing to it will provide greater stability to the business long term.
Their 20% contribution to their SFS Road Map Action Plan was money well spent, says Gaynor.
“Every farm is different so it makes sense to get some advice on how your own business sits on meeting the obligations of the SFS, without Ben’s support we would have struggled,” she says.
Although the Owens’s only plan to enter the Universal layer for now, farmers who are also targeting one or both of the SFS’s two other layers – Optional and Collaborative – the SFS Road Map Action Plan service will navigate farmers through those also.
Lee Price, head of the Farming Connect Advisory Service, says the intention is not for it to be solely a ‘tick box exercise’ on compliance but to help businesses understand more about the scheme and the intentions of the actions they are being asked to deliver – benchmarking, for example, is an opportunity for the business to complete key performance indicators (KPIs) and compare to the industry average and what that means for their farm productivity.
“On Universal action 10, on tree planting, for farmers who will need to plant 250 trees to fulfill that requirement, they can have a discussion with their advisor on where they might want to plant them and why that location - for biosecurity, to expand existing woodland, or to provide more shade and shelter for livestock,” he explains.
There are a number of advisors across Wales who have been enlisted to deliver the Action Plan.
“If a farmer is interested, they should contact their local Farming Connect Development Officer to discuss it, to choose an advisor and to make the application for the 80% funding,” Lee advises.
In future years farmers can reference their Action Plan to allow them to become more self-sufficient with navigating the SFS.
“It is about enabling the business to do it for themselves in future and to feel confident about doing that,” says Lee.
Through a range of services, Farming Connect can offer support in each of the 12 Universal actions. If you haven’t already done so, you will need to register with Farming Connect through RPW Online.