The Agriculture Bill, introduced into Parliament last week, is an important step forward, according to Welsh Farming Minister, Lesley Griffiths.

The Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs said it will enable the Welsh Government to support farmers in Wales post-Brexit, providing a legal base for future support as the UK moves away from the provisions in the Common Agricultural Policy.

At her request, the Bill also includes significant new powers for Welsh Ministers. These powers will be used until a Wales Agriculture Bill is introduced to the National Assembly.

The Bill has also been described as a "landmark" by the UK Government, but the FUW has called it a "leap into the unknown".

In July, the Cabinet Secretary launched a consultation on proposals for a new Land Management Programme to replace the Common Agricultural Policy in Wales post-Brexit. The consultation is open until October 30.

The proposed powers for Welsh Ministers include:

• New financial powers for future schemes

• Collection and sharing of data

• Powers to intervene in exceptional market conditions

• Setting of marketing standards

• Modification of retained EU law relating to the financing, management and monitoring of payments to farmers including the CAP Basic Payment Scheme.

The Welsh provisions in the Bill closely mirror those intended for England. In addition to a small number of technical differences, Welsh powers also include an emphasis on supporting rural communities and businesses involved in supply chains.

Ms Griffiths said: “This is the first piece of post-Brexit legislation which allows us to continue to support farmers and develop new ways of working.

“We have worked closely with the UK Government to make sure this legislation works for Wales and it provides us with significant new powers. The Bill gives us the freedom and flexibility to take forward our own proposals for a made in Wales support system for farmers.

“Whilst we are generally supportive of the Bill as drafted, there are two outstanding issues – the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture and the Red Meat Levy – which we have not resolved.

“The UK Government has classified WTO as reserved but I am clear these powers could have a significant effect on devolved competence. We need to agree a better process for managing this important part of agricultural support.

“The introduction of the Agriculture Bill is an important step in our transition to an agriculture support mechanism reflecting the needs and aspiration of Welsh industries as proposed in our Brexit and our Land consultation.”

The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) has described Defra’s Agriculture Bill as a "leap into the economic and legal unknown" given current uncertainty around Brexit and World Trade Organisation rules.

NFU president John Davies said: “NFU Cymru maintains that any future Welsh agricultural policy should contain volatility or stability measures, to sit alongside environmental and productivity measures, in order to support farmers’ core role as food producers. Given that agriculture underpins the Welsh food and drink sector worth almost £7 billion a year to the Welsh economy and employing over 240,000 people, we need future policy that supports this important sector and allows it to prosper post-Brexit.”