Government plans to develop a commemorative 'Covid' woodland on the Brownhill site in the Tywi Valley will result in the destruction of some of the Tywi Valley's richest agricultural land, rural groups have claimed. 

The proposal to develop the site near Llangadog has been described as "the tip of the iceberg" in the government's plans on buying productive farmland in its bid to tackle carbon emission by planting trees.

"Brownhill seems to have brought a very sizeable problem to the foreground," said Rachel Evans, Wales director of the Countryside Alliance. 

"For some time we've feared that wealthy corporate organisations would come in and buy up our farmland to offset their carbon emissions, but it now looks as if things are getting much closer to home.

"I recently found out that a farm between Brechfa and Llanfynydd has been sold to Natural Resources Wales for the Welsh govermment as well as 30 acres of farmland in Anglesey. We're talking about pasture that's been used for generations to provide our food."

Rachel Evans was born and raisen in Llangadog and she continues to live there with her young family.

"My fear is that our farmland is going to continue being swallowed up by the government with the result that future generations will have to import food with much lower agricultural standards than we have here in Wales."

But it isn't just the farming community who are urging the government to re-think their proposals at  Brownhill. Local anglers, holiday cottage companies and countless residents are all concerned that the woodland development will have an adverse effect on the countryside.

"It's not that we're opposed to the idea of creating a commemorative Covid woodland but questions are being asked in the Senedd about the government's insistence on buying all this agricultural land. 

"Yes, there's land at Brownhill that's perfcectly suitable for woodland development but the site also includes three very good fields. 

"Those fields should be rented out to a young farming family as this would be an ideal opportunity for the Welsh government to demonstrate how farmland can work alongside woodland creation."

Rachel Evans went on to say that the Llangadog community has been overlooked by the government during their purchase of the Brownhill site.

"There was no community engagement until the land was bought. But surely this is the time when they needed to get the community on board.

"Great ideas come from great great people in great communities.  The government needs the support of this community so that their plan can be enriched in an acceptable and succesful way."

Meanwhile Nick Fenwick, head of policy at the FUW, fears that the Brownhill Commemorative Woodland could merely be a useful label used by Natural Resources Wales for a woodland crdation shceme that was already in the pipeline long before the pandemic. 

"This is a problem that we've seen escalating for the last six months," he said. 

"We're fully supportive of increasing tree planting, but it has to be in the right place and I'm concerned that this commemorative site is simply a label that's been slapped on because the site has serious implications concerning the land suitability."