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FUW delegates discuss food security issues with Secretary of State Stephen Crabb[/caption]
The importance of nurturing and supporting Welsh producers, and thereby protecting and improving domestic food security, was at the top of the agenda when Farmers’ Union of Wales delegates met the Rt Hon. Secretary of State for Wales Stephen Crabb at a recent farm visit.
The meeting, which was held at FUW deputy president Brian Thomas’s farm at Llwyncelyn Lan, Llanfyrnach, Pembrokeshire on Thursday September 3, heard members express the view that the government needed to develop a competitive food security strategy for the UK.
FUW deputy president Brian Thomas, who farms 70 beef shorthorn cattle and 150 ewes on the holding with cereals also being grown, said: “I would firstly like to thank the secretary of state for Wales Stephen Crabb for meeting with us here on the farm.
“It has been a most productive meeting and FUW members were able to use this opportunity to highlight many of the financial difficulties facing them following the recent lamb and milk price crisis.
“As part of these discussions we talked about the importance of food security and how a food security strategy plan would give farmers confidence to develop their businesses, which in turn would support the development of rural areas.
The subject of food procurement was highlighted as an important part of a food security strategy and the Union stressed that both farmers and consumers will be subject to volatile pricing if nothing is done to better support the home industry. Whilst the union was pleased to hear that the MOD and NHS had increased the amount of British produce they source, the FUW made clear that more must be done.
“The use of quality PGI products must be included as part of the procurement criteria for sourcing food for schools and public bodies and we would ask local, national and devolved administrations to make a greater effort in this respect.
“Farmers are custodians of the countryside and they are responsible for the important task of producing food for the nation. However, they are vulnerable to the market place,” added Mr Thomas.
The delegation further discussed the EU’s role in managing global oversupply and FUW senior policy officer Dr Hazel Wright emphasised that it was imperative that the market place functions in a way which ensures a future for the UK agricultural industry and that this may mean some form of supply management.
The union further highlighted that much of the cheese manufactured in the UK went into supermarket own branded packets, yet it wasn’t clear from the labelling in which part of the UK the cheese had been produced, and yet this is something that many consumers have stated that they want.
“We were pleased to hear that Mr Crabb acknowledged that labelling is still a problem and that discussions on clear labelling were continuing.
“It is important that government recognises the value of Welsh branded products. Agriculture has hardly featured in the UK’s export strategy under past governments but we were pleased to hear that food production is now a major and vital part of the strategy and we stressed the importance of this continuing,” said Mr Thomas.