This is a major focus for Earth and Leaf. Welsh government is taking a lead with the sustainable farming scheme but has failed to carry farmers with them.
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Mr Rickman, who is deputy president of the Farmers’ Union of Wales, recently brought in 26-year-old Sean Jeffreys as a partner at his 84-hectare farm near Bethlehem, Carmarthenshire.
Farming was the “backbone of the rural economy”, agreed Mr Rickman, and severe job losses would be “devastating”.
Penri James, visiting lecturer in agriculture at Aberystwyth University, said there needed to be “changes to the way farms operate”.
He urged “joined up thinking” in government strategies around climate change, farming, skills and employment.
“There should be a huge amount of concern in government about how this transition is going to operate because if they don’t get it right there will be significant job losses in rural areas and the disappearance of viable businesses.”
