The call from Ofcom for BT to open up its cable network for competition has today been welcomed by the Farmers’ Union of Wales.

The Union has long been campaigning for internet services to improve across Wales and has voiced its concern in terms of a lack of competition repeatedly to the communications watchdog.

The FUW has collaborated with Ofcom in providing a platform for discussion on the wide ranging communications issues facing rural Wales for many years and has held many wide-ranging talks with farmers and representatives from the communications industry to discuss plans for improvement in the rural areas of Wales.

FUW President Glyn Roberts said: “A lot of work has been done over the past four years to improve services for broadband access and a lot of money has been invested by Welsh Government to improve the ‘superfast’ service - however that service is still not reaching farmers across Wales.

“The FUW does all it can to help members to access the internet and carry out essential online business duties via its county office structure but with ever increasing demands on the farming community to carry out their business duties online more needs to be done to accelerate the process by which these essential services are readily and reliably available all over Wales, not just in urban areas.”

The FUW is fully supportive of moves which encourage the use of online services and has demonstrated this in terms of its support for RPW Online and online SAF submissions.

“However, with access to broadband still well below the national average in many of our rural areas, and farm businesses representing the highest proportion of those with no broadband access, it is essential that the limitations of online services and communications are recognised, and that rural access to broadband is increased.

“Online IACS, BCMS online and EID are just a few examples that farmers throughout Wales require reliable and fast internet connections.

“As a union we cannot stress the fact enough that more needs to be done to help rural communities and farm businesses by providing them with the essentials that every twenty-first century business needs and that includes fixed line access and mobile access throughout Wales.”

The FUW have welcomed clarity on the staging of a referendum on Britain's future in the EU.

“The FUW has long been a strong supporter of our membership of the EU. We do not sit on the fence here: we believe a Yes vote in the referendum is the best answer for farming and rural economies in Wales and for the wider Welsh economy as a whole,” said FUW Managing Director Alan Davies.

“That does not mean we believe the EU is perfect - far from it, a huge proportion of the FUW’s time is spent dealing with nonsensical EU bureaucracy. Negotiations for change are better done inside the tent than from outside.

“But we have yet to see any evidence that leaving the EU will have any significant impact on the rules and regulations.

“In addition, we have plenty of evidence published by successive UK Governments that support for farming, rural communities and food security will quickly dissolve once we are outside the EU,” added Mr Davies.

The FUW is also committed to providing as much information as possible to its members in order for them to make a fully informed decision in June, and will be holding a series of debates the first of which is on Friday, March 18.

The debate between Lord Wigley from the ‘Stronger in Europe’ campaign and David Jones MP, a former Secretary of State for Wales, will be open to members and other parties interested in agriculture and the protection of rural economy of Wales.

The Farmers’ Union of Wales has reacted angrily to a Welsh Government announcement that there will not be an entry-level agri-environment scheme application round in 2016, describing the decision as a betrayal of the commitments which underpinned the introduction of the Glastir scheme.

Speaking at Thursday’s (February 11) Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 Start of Term Event in Swansea, Deputy Minister for Food and Farming Rebecca Evans told those present there would not be a Glastir Entry application round this year and that funding would be re-directed away from broad-based whole farm schemes.

Speaking after the event, FUW Head of Policy, Nick Fenwick, said “Our 2016 Election Manifesto launched in November last year called for all farmers to continue to have access to Glastir Entry, so this decision comes as a severe blow for the industry.

“The FUW bitterly opposed the Welsh Government’s decision to remove £25 million from Wales’ disadvantaged areas by abandoning our Tir Mynydd LFA scheme.

“That money was effectively diverted to the Glastir agri-environment scheme, along with a promise that all farmers throughout Wales would be able to access the scheme.

“It appears that that principle has now been reneged upon.”

Dr Fenwick said that around 1,600 farmers would be left high and dry from 2017 as their Glastir Entry contracts were due to end in December 2016, with a further 3,000 or so likely to be affected in subsequent years if the policy remained in place.

He said that while other elements of the Rural Development Programme announced by the Deputy Minister, such as a small grants scheme, were welcome, none came close to meeting the original commitment to an all-Wales entry level agri-environment scheme which would be accessible to all.

“The decision to abandon payments for disadvantaged areas placed Welsh farmers at a major disadvantage compared with our main competitors in other parts of the UK and EU.

“Now it seems the quid pro quo offered at the time - an agri-environment scheme which would be open to all – has also been abandoned at a time when farm incomes are on the floor.”

The decision to scrap disadvantaged area payments, in the form of Tir Mynydd, effectively replaced a simple and cheap to administer compensatory scheme with the hugely complex and costly Glastir agri-environment scheme, said Dr Fenwick.

“This decision was made at a time when the public funding available to administer such schemes was known to be falling. This was warned of by the FUW at the time, and the experience since has confirmed our fears to be true.

“Given the state of Welsh farm incomes, we desperately need to see investment and a return to the sort of compensatory scheme which benefits our competitors across the EU,” he added.

The Brecon and Radnor branch of the Farmers’ Union of Wales held a Sheep Tales event on Friday January 29, at the FUW Pavilion as part of the FUW county celebrations for the Union’s 60^th anniversary.

The county branch further used the opportunity to raise money for the British Heart Foundation Cymru and with a raffle collected £97 for the charity.

The funny and thought-provoking entertainment in words and song about shepherds and shepherding drawn from newly-collected oral history interviews with sheep farming folk (and the occasional sheep!) were performed by storyteller and songbird Sally Tonge and BBC Radio 4 producer Chris Eldon Lee of the veteran comedy trio Three Men in a Bowtie.

Members and friends of the Union enjoyed a hearty beef stew and a choice of apple crumble or chocolate fudge cake prepared by County Admin Assistant Kath Shaw and her mum Fran and served by all the County staff.

FUW Brecon and Radnor county executive officer, Aled Jones, said: “We have enjoyed a very successful and enjoyable evening and it is of course down the to the support of our members and those who have supported us in sponsorship that we were able to raise a nice amount of money for our chosen charity.

“Heart disease is the UK’s single biggest killer, claiming around 73,000 lives a year – that’s an average of 200 lives every day.

“I’m glad that the money we have raised with this event will support research projects into heart disease around the UK. Nearly all of us have been affected by this disease in some way or another.

“Millions of adults and children which could be one of our friends or a family member might need help from BHF and we look forward to further fundraising events in the future.”