Staff from the Welsh Government’s Farm Liaison Service (FLS) were today (Monday June 15) presented with the Farmers’ Union of Wales annual external award for services to the agricultural industry in Wales.
The FLS is an important point of contact for many farmers in Wales and provide Welsh farmers with confidential, one-to-one guidance and support on a wide range of topics.
“Their dedicated team of regionally based support staff provide farmers with up to date information about all agriculture-related schemes and policy areas administered by the Welsh Government and today we are paying tribute to the tremendous contribution they make to the agricultural sector year on year,” said FUW president Emyr Jones.
“As a union we are always grateful to see Farm Liaison Officers at divisional offices, many of the main livestock markets in Wales, regional agricultural shows and numerous Farming Connect events. The way they bridge the gap between civil servants and farmers for example by helping them with scheme guidance, farm records etc. which speeds up the process considerably for the farming community.
“Working Smarter Report author Gareth Williams said of the service that ‘The one-to-one advice and the ‘group’ and 'surgery' approaches employed by FLS are universally appreciated’ and we can only second that notion,” added Mr Jones.
FUW county executive officer David Waters said: “While concerns remain in some areas about access to the FLS following the closure of some offices, we welcome the ongoing commitment to the service which, alongside the services provided by the FUW, will continue to be of central importance to a large number of farmers, not least given the increase in bureaucracy which has accompanied the new CAP.”
[caption id="attachment_5351" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Presenting the FUW external award for services to agriculture to Rita Jones and the FLS is deputy minister for farming and food Rebecca Evans and FUW president Emyr Jones.[/caption]