The Farmers’ Union of Wales today warned that Defra’s “Vision for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)” would decimate Wales’s rural communities.

The stark warning follows publication of a joint report - by Queen’s University, Belfast; the Northern Ireland Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI); and the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) of University of Missouri - on the impact of changes to the European CAP proposed by Defra and the UK Treasury in 2005.

The work confirms the union’s worst fears and predicts massive falls in livestock numbers and commodity prices.

FUW president Gareth Vaughan said: “The FUW has raised our concerns regarding the impact of Defra’s proposals with Ministers, politicians, and civil servants, at every opportunity since 2005, and this work now confirms exactly what we have been saying.

“The proposals, if allowed to go ahead, will rip the heart and soul out of Wales’s rural communities and completely destroy what little food security we retain.

“The fall in livestock numbers would have serious consequences for Wales’s environment, while the drop in income for farms and food businesses would close down many businesses and cost thousands their jobs.”

The report predicts that Defra’s plans would result in a 191 per cent increase in beef imports, leading to a 29% fall in Welsh suckler cow numbers, whilst Welsh beef production could drop by 11%. Welsh ewe numbers are also set to decrease by 19%, and a 16% decline in finished lamb production is estimated.

Declining livestock numbers is also coupled with a decline in livestock prices. Hardest hit will be beef producers, with a staggering estimated drop in beef prices of 25%.

Last week the FUW, in evidence to the Welsh Assembly’s rural development sub committee, labelled Defra’s document as “a vision for the destruction of UK agriculture”.

During last week’s Labour Party conference, Defra Minister Hilary Benn emphasised the UK Government’s concerns regarding food security.

He said: “Our farmers and farmers around the world will have another two to three billion mouths to feed in two generation’s time.

“Our farmers - at the heart of our rural communities - are ready for the challenge. And we should support them in the great job they do.”

Responding to Mr Benn’s comments, Mr Vaughan said: “If this is really the case, then the government must stand by their words and dissociate itself from the 2005 vision document and policies that would completely undermine Europe’s food security and be apocalyptic for our rural communities.”

THE Farmers’ Union of Wales today (Thursday October 1) highlighted key concerns about the future of the Welsh dairy industry during an official inquiry by the National Assembly’s rural development sub committee.

During the evidence session, FUW dairy committee chairman Eifion Huws stressed the need for farmers to receive a fairer share of the prices paid by consumers for dairy products, and drew attention to the predicted impact of milk quota abolition on Welsh dairy farm incomes.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Huws said: “The past 18 months has seen the publication of three detailed analyses of the impact for Wales, the UK, and other EU regions of quota abolition.

“Each one of those predicts a fall in Welsh farmgate milk prices and a fall in Welsh milk production as a result of quota abolition.

We are already experiencing the lowest production levels in four decades, and prices that are unsustainable. As a union standing for the protection of Welsh family farms, we cannot support changes to the EU milk regime that will reduce farm incomes and make matters worse.”

Mr Huws was referring to Defra’s 2008 report “Phasing out Milk Quotas in the EU”, the Joint Research Centre’s August 2009 paper “Regional Economic Analysis of Milk Quota Reform in the EU”, and the recently published “Impact of HM Treasury/Defra’s Vision for the Common Agricultural Policy on Agriculture in Wales”, all of which predict significant decreases in farmgate prices and milk production as a result of the abolition of the quota regime.

During the evidence session, the FUW slammed Defra’s “Vision for the Common Agricultural Policy”, describing it as a vision of the destruction of the UK agricultural industry.

“The document that details the impact of Defra’s ‘vision’ makes stark predictions for all key Welsh agricultural sectors,” said Mr Huws.

“Not only does it predict a fall in Welsh dairy incomes if Defra’s intentions became EU policy; it also predicts falls in incomes for the beef and sheep sectors that would decimate Welsh agriculture as a whole and tear the backbone out of rural Wales.

“There is now overwhelming evidence to support the FUW’s longstanding belief that abolition of milk quota and Defra’s ‘vision’ for the CAP is against the best interests of Wales, and I therefore trust that the rural development sub committee will take that evidence into account in making any recommendations to the Welsh Assembly Government.”

The Farmers’ Union of Wales today welcomed the laying of the Tuberculosis Eradication (Wales) Order 2009 before the Welsh Assembly, describing it as a crucial step towards bTB eradication.

The Order, which will allow the Welsh Assembly Government to cull and vaccinate badgers for the purpose of disease control, was laid before the Assembly by rural affairs minister Elin Jones.

Following the announcement, FUW bTB spokesman Brian Walters, an organic farmer from Carmarthenshire who has lost numerous cattle to the disease said: “This is a long anticipated and much welcome step towards controlling a major disease vector.

“We know that bTB infected badgers are one of the greatest barriers to bTB eradication. We have seen cattle controls stepped up significantly over the past decade, yet incidences of bTB continue to rise at an alarming rate.

“Research has shown that bTB rates in Welsh badgers are around 17 times higher than they are in cattle. We simply cannot go on killing more and more cattle when all the evidence points to badgers being the most significant source of disease in our worst hit areas.”

The Order will also make it on offence to interfere with efforts designed to combat the disease, which Mr Walters described as a key component of the Order.

“If a cattle keeper obstructs the testing or removal of cattle for bTB control purposes, they are dealt with severely - and quite rightly so.

“The same must apply to others who interfere with the control of this deadly disease.

The disruption of the English trials, coupled with obstruction, must certainly have undermined the impact of those trials, and it is imperative that this does not happen in Wales.

“The English trials have shown that reducing badger numbers by 80% or so led to a fall in bTB incidences of 54%, and even outside the culling areas incidences have fallen by almost a quarter,” added Mr Walters.

Nominations are invited for the annual Farmers’ Union of Wales award to the person who has made the most outstanding contribution to agriculture in Carmarthenshire.

The award will be presented to the person who, in the view of the judges, has made the most outstanding contribution to the agricultural industry in Carmarthenshire during the last few years.

The judges will include representatives from the FUW, HSBC bank plc and the United Counties Agricultural and Hunters Society.

FUW’s Carmarthenshire county executive officer Meinir Bartlett said: "Nominations should be in the form of a letter or citation giving full details of the work and achievement of the nominee with, of course, emphasis on their positive and beneficial effect on agriculture in Carmarthenshire.

"The award will be presented at the 20th anniversary dinner of the Welsh Dairy Show on Friday, October 23 at the Quins Rugby Club, Carmarthen. Tickets are available from the FUW’s Carmarthenshire county office and the United Counties Agricultural and Hunters Society."

Nominations should to be sent to: Farmers’ Union of Wales, 13A Barn Road, Carmarthen, SA31 1DD by Thursday October 1.