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FUW president Glyn Roberts[/caption]
For six of the past twelve months I have had the honour of serving as the FUW’s President – an experience which has taken me all over the country and much further afield and allowed me to make many new friends and acquaintances.
While the majority of those I have met have been farmers, many others are involved directly or indirectly with the industry. Yet there has been one clear and uniform message from all in terms of their worries regarding the impact of the collapse in farm incomes on agriculture and the businesses which rely on the industry.
As I write, a main focus for the industry is the need for Basic Payments to be made as soon as possible, and while we have warned since June that such delays were imminent due to the additional burden of the new CAP rules, the FUW continues to put pressure on the Welsh Government to process payments as quickly as possible – payments which are as just as essential to the survival of thousands of businesses which rely on agriculture as they are to farming families.
While it is easy to focus on the problems currently facing us, it is important not to lose sight of the wider challenges facing us over the coming year and beyond, as well as the opportunities.
A major ongoing challenge is likely to be the Euro-Sterling exchange rate which is the main factor in terms of the fall in livestock values and has a direct impact on CAP payments, while for the dairy sector there seems to be little hope that matters will improve significantly next year without major changes in global demand and trading patters – not least with regard to China and Russia.
As farmers we must be realistic about such factors and the degree to which they are outside our control – but it is also imperative that where positive actions are possible, whether by our own governments or key players such as retailers, these are taken.
Sadly, 2015 has not filled the industry with confidence that this need is recognised; cynical buying and marketing policies by some retailers merely added to existing downward pressures on prices, while many feel that a Welsh Government obsession with passing legislation means good governance has been eclipsed by bad regulation.
The FUW’s 2016 Welsh Assembly Election Manifesto launched at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair details those actions which we believe should be a priority, while also highlighting the dangers to the wider economy of heaping ever more costly bureaucracy and restrictions on an industry which is already under immense financial pressures.
While much of the focus over the coming months will be on the Welsh elections, as the year moves on attention will increasingly centre on the EU membership referendum, and the FUW has made no bones about its support for EU membership and its belief that the Welsh Government must make up for lost time in terms of quantifying the possible economic impacts of Brexit and preparing contingency plans.
Such issues seem a world away to those which faced our founder members sixty years ago when they decided to form the FUW – yet our commitment to fighting at all levels for the family farms which underpin Wales’ agricultural industry has not faltered, and I am heartened by the enthusiasm and positive attitude of an upcoming generation of young members who will guide us over the next six decades.
We are indebted to all FUW staff and officials for their dedication and hard work over the past year, not least during the extremely difficult SAF period, and I wish them and all our colleagues across Wales and further afield a very Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year.