Support for farmers in Ceredigion after Brexit is “not appropriate”, the county council leader has said.

Cllr Ellen ap Gwynn updated the council Cabinet on the October meeting of the Growing Mid Wales Partnership, which included its response to a Welsh Government consultation entitled Support for Welsh Farming after Brexit.

“What is offered in the white paper is not appropriate for our farmers,” said Cllr ap Gwynn.

In the response to Welsh Government, the partnership made that point “very clearly”, she said.

The minutes state that a draft response was amended so it no longer said “the partnership welcomes the basic principles”.

Cllr ap Gwynn told the Cabinet that the loss of direct payments would also have a “detrimental effect on our economies and language.”­

Members heard there was no reference to rural produce or food production, which was felt to be an “omission” by the partnership.

All land owners will have access to new schemes, but it was felt that there should be no access to funding if food is not produced.

Cllr ap Gwynn added that a successful meeting about the 15-year mid Wales growth plan to boost jobs and the economy had been held in Cardiff last week.

FUW Ceredigion CEO Emma Davies said later: “The Welsh food and farming sector supports over 240,000 jobs, with nearly 52,000 employed on Welsh farms alone, and in our communities, employment figures show that up to 28 percent of people work in the agricultural industry. So of course we are naturally opposed to any proposals that may threaten not only farming families, but also those tens of thousands of individuals and businesses which rely on the sector.

“It is clear what is at stake if we get future rural policy wrong."

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