We asked the Department what farmers were feeling about the new scheme and the reduction in direct payments. The Department recognised that while some saw the scheme as a “welcome opportunity to embrace a new future”, some feel very threatened by it and were anxious about the future.54 The RPA accepted that both it and the Department had a role to help assuage that anxiety and “encourage people to embrace the fact that by changing farming practice there might be a different way forward”.55 The Department stressed that the schemes it is introducing are intended to be widely available to all types of farms. We highlighted, however, that being available is not the same as these schemes providing sufficient support for farms to stay in business.56