The economics of farming in a post-subsidy era look shaky for tenants according to Elwyn Evans’ calculations.

His annual Basic Payment Scheme subsidy barely covers the rent he pays on his 180-acre rented coastal estate farm on Anglesey.

“The BPS comes in and the rent goes out, without the BPS I would be farming at a loss,’’ says Elwyn.

The situation is worse for tenants than for farmers who own their holdings, he reckons.

“Environmental payments are all well and good but tenants must have the permission of their landlord, plant a tree and it is the landlord that then owns that tree.

“The Welsh Government must understand that tenants don’t have free rein to do what we like on our farms.’’

Elwyn’s grandfathers were farmers but it was his father, William, affectionately known as ‘WJ’, who took on the tenancy of Treiddon in 1958.

The farm, part of the 18,500 acre Bodorgan Estate, is two miles from the sea at Aberffraw where Elwyn also owns a 20-acre smallholding.

The farm once produced milk but after the dairy herd was sold the family focussed on sheep and beef cattle, establishing a flock of Easycare ewes.

“We bought 100 ewes to start with and haven’t looked back, I wouldn’t contemplate another breed,’’ says Elwyn.

“They stay healthy, we don’t have problems with feet and they lamb easily because they don’t have big rumps.’’

His flock now numbers 300 and is slowly increasing as a closed flock.

Demand for ewe lambs is high so Elwyn markets those as breeding stock and sells the ram lambs through Gaerwen livestock market.

“We leave the ram lambs entire, the whole ethos of Easycare is that you leave the sheep to it. The more interference, the more work you create.’’

On the beef side of the business, Elwyn sells around 70 stores a year at 18 months old and has also established a small suckler herd, which currently numbers 20 Hereford and Aberdeen Angus crosses.

“I was used to having docile animals when we had a dairy herd so I wanted this in the beef cattle too, especially because I am working with them alone.’’

The farm has for many years been run to organic principles although it isn’t officially designated as organic – Elwyn has just preferred the low input model, which fit in well with NVZ restrictions and those of his Glastir contract.

Farming within an NVZ has focussed his mind on making better use of nutrients. “It can’t be a bad thing, to get more value out of manures and slurries,’’ Elwyn believes.

But he worries that designating the whole of Wales as an NVZ will create more problems than it solves.

“If every farmer goes into the spring with a full slurry store and we have a major weather event when they are legally allowed to spread in the spring it will be a disaster.

“I don’t think that the people who make the rules have thought through the practicalities.’’

Elwyn also has concerns about how these rules will impact on tenants, in particular investment in storage.

“Tenant farmers often rent additional land over and above the size of their main holding but if landlords are going to help pay for storage they are likely to only take into account the storage needed for the farm itself, not their tenant’s acreage overall.’’

The tenanted sector comes with many challenges and, from bitter personal experience, Elwyn now advises every farmer to take our insurance to cover the costs of any disputes.

He spent almost £30,000 fighting a challenge to his family’s Agricultural Holdings Act three generation tenancy.

Successors to an AHA tenancy must demonstrate that they have received an income from the farm for at least five years. Elwyn’s landlord challenged his succession application on a technicality to this rule and it took three years to resolve.

“It is important that tenants take out insurance to cover costs,’’ says Elwyn.

With succession in mind, Elwyn has four children but currently none of them want to farm.

His eldest daughter, Ffion, is a doctor in New Zealand, and Elen is a dentist in north Wales.

Dafydd has a Masters degree in electronic engineering, and Ifan, although having qualified with a computer networking degree, is now happily working as a baker.

But with four granddaughters in the family at the latest count, it might be that succession skips a generation for the legacy of the Evans family to continue at Treiddon.