Wales' First Minister has said that his greatest fear with Brexit is that farming and economic subsidies could disappear when the UK leaves the EU.
The poorest areas of Wales are sharing more than £2bn aid between 2014 and 2020, while more than £250m a year goes directly to farmers.
First Minister Carwyn Jones told AMs it was possible there would be no replacement by the UK government of the payments after 2020.
Mr Jones responded to Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood saying: “Wales cannot afford to pay the price for a hard Brexit” as he called on the British government to replace lost EU aid.
He said: “I am not optimistic there will be any money post-2020.”
“I am not convinced there will be any money to replace structural funds, and I am becoming convinced there will not be any money to pay farming subsidies.”
“More and more we are hearing that the Common Agricultural Policy is a problem. We heard it from Iain Duncan Smith - that means farming subsidies could well disappear.”
“That’s my greatest fear. We know what that would mean for the economy of rural Wales.”
£223m boost
However, the Welsh Government has secured a £223 million boost to Wales’ rural communities.
The funding, a combination of Welsh Government and EU money, is an investment in key areas that is hoped will help rural communities to be more resilient during the post-EU transition period.
It comes as Prime Minister Theresa May is due to trigger Article 50, the two-year process for Brexit, today.
She will promise to "represent every person in the whole United Kingdom" during the negotiations - including EU nationals, whose status after Brexit has yet to be settled.
"It is my fierce determination to get the right deal for every single person in this country," she will say.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC), the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), which represent the whole of the supply chain from farm to fork, issued a joint statement last week ahead of Article 50.
They said: "We cannot operate in isolation. Our farmers need imported feed and inputs and they need access to other markets for their products, especially where demand for these in the UK is insufficient."
