The Welsh government is being urged to introduce payment caps on future support schemes amid concerns money could be taken away from small family farms.
Farming groups in Wales are calling for the capping of direct agricultural payments after farm employee wages and other factors are taken into account.
Proponents of the measure say this maximises the amount of money going to typical Welsh family-run farms and rural communities.
The Welsh government had introduced reductions for higher farm payments and an ultimate limit on the amount a farmer could claim through the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) - a system known as payment capping.
The system meant that payments over £150,000 were reduced by increasing amounts and no payments were made over £300,000.
This was well over what the majority of Welsh farmers received from the BPS - 77% received less than £20,000, and the average payment was £15,000.
Also introduced in 2015 was a ‘redistributive payment’ system which reduced EU subsidy payments for farms with larger areas.
This increased the amount of money small and medium sized farms received, an approach that benefited the majority of smaller family-run farms.
Now concerns have been raised due to the Welsh government refusal to commit to maintaining any similar system for the country's post-Brexit agricultural support schemes.
The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) is worried that this will lead to money being "taken away from hard working family farms and given to large landowners and charities - or even people based outside Wales."
FUW President Glyn Roberts said: “If coupled with a weakening of the current ‘active farmer’ eligibility criteria - a system that favours real farmers rather than absentee landowners - this would make matters worse, by taking away even more money from farming families and rural communities."
Other countries within the UK have no such systems, meaning there is no limit to the amount of money that can be claimed by large landowners.
The FUW said that in the rest of the UK, there is no "specific focus on providing funding for the family farms that make the greatest contributions to communities".
“Meanwhile, the EU is reforming policies in order to encourage payment capping and introduce redistributive payments to better address the income needs of smaller and medium-sized farms," Mr Roberts added.
“Failure to continue and reinforce the current capping and redistributive system would be a backwards step for Welsh society,” he warned.
The union is encouraging its members to write to their Members of the Senedd to urge the Welsh government to ensure future schemes include capping and redistributive payment systems.
A lobbying tool for farmers can be accessed on the FUW's website.
