Aberystwyth University to run Pwllpeiran research farm

Pwllpeiran has been a research base for more than 80 years

A 3,500-acre Ceredigion research farm is to carry on operating in public ownership, says the Welsh government.

Ministers originally planned to sell Pwllpeiran Farm, near Aberystwyth, after research firm ADAS said in March it could not afford to renew its lease.

But the facility will now be run by Aberystwyth University's Institute for Biological Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS).

The deputy agricultural minister said it would benefit the farming sector.

Pwllpeiran farm has been a research centre since the 1930s, working to improve the viability of farming the uplands of Wales.

Speaking at the Royal Welsh Show in Llanelwedd, deputy agriculture minister Alun Davies said IBERS had made "viable proposals" last month to take over the running of the farm.

Mr Davies said: "It is an exciting development which I'm sure will be welcomed by the local community, farmers and researchers alike.

"The retention of the farm as a research facility is the outcome most beneficial to the farming sector and will help realise our ambitions for sustainable agriculture in Wales."

Plans to sell the farm in lots, announced in January, had been criticised by farming leaders and Ceredigion AM Elin Jones.