Welsh rural affairs minister Lesley Griffiths says 'changes will be made' to the controversial Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) following mounting protests across Wales.

Ms Griffiths told BBC News the Welsh government accepted changes were needed, but she wanted to hear 'all the responses' to the consultation first.

The move comes after a poll showed just 3 per cent of farmers trust the Welsh government and 87 per cent of farmers believed the SFS would neither support their business nor deliver positive environmental outcomes. Just 6 per cent said they would opt into the schemes in their current form, which many consider to be unnecessarily prescriptive and complex.

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Protesters are unhappy with proposed subsidy changes, which require 10 per cent of agricultural land to be used for trees and 10 per cent for wildlife habitat. However, the plans have been broadly backed by foresters, with the Woodland Trust in Wales saying last week they are "necessary and desirable". 

Ms Griffiths conceded the 'majority of people' were unhappy with the proposals but said she did not want to pre-empt the consultation into the policy, the Sustainable Farming Scheme, which ends on March 7.

"Officials are already saying to me, 'there will have to be changes made' but I want to look at it holistically," she told BBC Politics Wales.

Lesley Griffiths conceded a 'majority of people' are unhappy with the proposals.

"We need all those responses. We need all the feedback and we need to look at what can be done," she said.

Ms Griffiths added the 'whole point' of the seven-year conversation the government has had with farmers was to ensure sustainable food production and to help fight climate change.

However, Abi Reader, deputy president NFU Cymru, told the programme: "We are yet to see any reassurance from the Welsh government that anything is going to change.

"We are desperate to see some reassurances from the Welsh government that they are listening and they will change things because at the moment there is a huge swell of anger out there, which is headed for the Senedd."

This article originally appeared in our sister title, the Scottish Farmer.