In December 2025, Welsh Ministers selected their final indicators and targets for Sustainable Land Management (SLM) and laid them before the Senedd, where they were approved.   

These indicators and targets followed many of the recommendations and suggestions in the Welsh Government commissioned report by IEEP UK, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) and the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) delivered via the Environment and Rural Affairs Modelling and Monitoring Programme (ERAMMP).

This report followed the development of a Theory of Change Framework for SLM and analysis of monitoring and evaluation frameworks used elsewhere.   

SLM is the overall framework for the programme for post-Brexit agriculture in Wales introduced by the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023. It includes, but is not limited to, the new farm support and agri-environment programme, the Sustainable Farming Scheme.  It covers four broad categories of sustainable production, resilient ecosystems, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and culture and Welsh language. The legal minimum requirement under the Act was for just four indicators and four associated targets to be put in place.  However, both the project team and stakeholders felt that this would be inadequate to deliver the ambitions of SLM. What we proposed and what was ultimately approved by the Senedd was much more comprehensive. The ERAMMP Team recommended 35 indicators of which only one, levels of farm diversification, was not included. The majority were adopted as proposed, in addition to two new ones on woodland and peatland. One of our proposals, covering areas where ammonia levels exceeded the tolerance of sensitive species, was replaced by a commitment to develop an indicator on ammonia. For another on the good status of freshwater courses, Ministers have agreed to an indicator covering the whole of Wales rather than just those areas dominated by agriculture, as proposed by the report.  

Two other indicators on water quality: pathogens from agriculture and soils at risk of phosphorus leaching; require further research but are included in those that Ministers are committing to take forward, which is particularly welcome given the poor state of Welsh waters.  

Ministers introduced targets for 7 of the indicators including on horticulture, farmer and agricultural worker mental health, peatland restoration, tree planting, water quality, scheduled monuments and public rights of way.   

In addition, they committed to developing future targets on soil health, supply chains, animal health and welfare, plant protection products, farm level carbon, farmland subject to flood and drought, ecosystem resilience, species abundance, ammonia, tree cover, pathogens from agriculture in water, phosphorus leaching, designated landscapes and public engagement with nature.    

We welcome the commitment to a broad range of targets across all aspects of SLM and look forward to the seeing the final suite of indicators and targets when all have been developed.  

Photo by Catrin Ellis on Unsplash