Royal Welsh Show 2026
The Royal Welsh Show has been bringing farming communities together since 1904 and is now the largest agricultural show in Europe. Over four days this July, the Builth Wells showground in the heart of mid-Wales welcomed more than 200,000 visitors, over 1,000 trade stands and more than 7,000 livestock entries onto its 90-hectare site on the banks of the River Wye. Numbers don't truly capture what the show means to many. It's a celebration of Welsh food and farming, a hub for political engagement, and a showcase for rural Wales at its best. For many farmers, competing here remains a career highlight. It's also a place of social connection for a broadening audience, and a draw for exhibitors from right across the UK.
We were there in force. The Farming and Land Use team and Soil Association Certification shared a stand in the Countryside Care area, talking with visitors and farmers throughout the four days about organic and agroecological approaches. Soil Association Certification’s forestry team also had a stand and provided sponsorship in Confor’s marquee in the forestry area. Meanwhile, our Head of Policy Cymru spent the show in a different kind of conversation - moving between meetings, events and receptions, networking with Welsh Government, Members of the Senedd, farming bodies and NGOs on the issues shaping the future of Welsh agriculture and organic food and farming.
A new government keen to deliver on its promises for farmers
The new Plaid Cymru Welsh Government used the show as a platform for a string of announcements that landed across the first three days. Notable amongst these was a funding commitment of over £1 billion across three years to provide the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) with a multi-annual budget, including £238 million a year for the Universal layer and £102 million for the Optional and Collaborative layers. New windows for schemes were also announced, including another window for organic conversion support, which we welcomed through a media statement. Alongside this came confirmation that Simon Wright had been appointed to lead an expert group to develop a National Food Strategy for Wales, and the publication of a Rural Proofing and Environmental Sustainability White Paper consultation which included proposals for a statutory duty on rural proofing.
Soil Association Cymru has long called for multi-annual funding, so this is a welcome step. But a lot rests on Plaid Cymru being able to pass its budget through the Senedd each year. The current impasse over their initial supplemental budget suggests this may not be straightforward. And if this government is serious about helping more farmers become resilient through nature-friendly farming, more funding will need to be found, particularly for the Optional and Collaborative layers.
The mood among farming stakeholders was markedly different to recent years; perhaps a feeling of hope and confidence in the new government and its relationship to farmers and rural Wales. Popular language helped, not least from John Davies, the chair of the independent review of the bureaucratic burden on family farms (the ‘red tape review’) and former president of NFU Cymru, who promised to "go after the red tape with a shredder" while maintaining high standards of regulation. Soil Association Cymru and Soil Association Certification met him as part of a Welsh Organic Forum delegation to start engaging with the review.
Notably, no cloud of controversy hung over this year's Show - perhaps also reflecting that the SFS transition is now underway and half of Welsh farmers have already signed up, covering nearly two-thirds of the country's agricultural land.
Encouraging signs for organic in Wales
One of the show's fixtures is the annual Welsh Organic Forum reception, jointly organised by the three main organic control bodies operating in Wales: Welsh Lamb and Beef Producers Ltd, Soil Association Certification and Organic Farmers and Growers. This year's gathering, hosted by the chair of the forum Haydn Evans (Soil Association Cymru’s Head of Farming Cymru) was well attended, bringing together around 40 representatives from the organic sector, farming organisations and Welsh Government.
The new Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability, Llyr Gruffydd, attended and spoke warmly about the contribution organic farming makes in Wales. At the end of his address, our Head of Policy Cymru asked, on behalf of the Welsh Organic Forum, whether the Cabinet Minister agreed that a third Welsh Organic Action Plan - embedded within or cross-referenced to the forthcoming National Food Strategy - would help scale up and target organic production, meet rising demand, and support long-term growth and resilience in the sector. His answer, delivered to the room, was a clear "yes, I agree." We'll be following this up with him directly, and with Simon Wright as independent chair of the National Food Strategy.
We also used the moment to flag a growing concern: the organic sector needs clarity on the new Welsh Government's position on Precision Bred Organisms, and in particular on the risk that PBOs produced in England under the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 - with no requirement for labelling or traceability - could impose unfair costs and regulatory burdens on organic producers in Wales.
Taken together, it was a reception that left us with real cause for optimism. The new Cabinet Minister is willing to put his support for organic on record and is apparently open to the case for a dedicated action plan to help the sector grow.
What next for the SFS?
As the show progressed it was clear that a central concern of the ‘red tape review’ is the barriers to uptake of the SFS, whether administrative hurdles or scheme design issues relating to the costs and practicalities of the Universal Actions. That focus wasn't so explicit in the review's original terms of reference, but in effect, the SFS Universal layer is now under review this year. The Cabinet Minister has been clear that he doesn't want to see a fundamental overhaul of scheme requirements, but with the review actively inviting feedback on barriers to wider uptake, how much room that leaves for change remains to be seen.