The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) has responded to a reported case of Foot and Mouth disease (FMD) in Germany.

The disease was discovered in a water buffalo on a farm in Märkisch-Oderland, Brandenburg in the east of the country on 10 January. This is the first case of foot and mouth disease in Germany for almost 40 years.

Foot and Mouth disease does not pose a risk to human health or food safety.

In response to the case, the UK Government has announced it is banning the import of cattle, pigs and sheep from Germany as it steps up measures to prevent the spread of Foot and Mouth disease. It was also confirmed import health certificates will no longer be issued for animals susceptible to Foot and mouth disease including for all live animals and fresh meat.

Commenting on the situation, Farmers’ Union of Wales President, Ian Rickman, said:

"The recent case of Foot and Mouth disease in Germany will be a source of concern for livestock farmers across Europe.

"The news will inevitably rekindle memories of the far-reaching impact the disease had on the agriculture sector and the countryside as a whole over two decades ago in 2001, and acts as a timely reminder of the importance of thorough checks at our borders so that this disease is not imported into the UK.

"We welcome the steps that have been initially pursued by German authorities, together with the decision by UK Government to ban the import of cattle, pigs and sheep from Germany. We will keep a close eye as the situation develops, and encourage livestock keepers to remain vigilant.”

Foot and Mouth Disease is a legally notifiable disease and must be reported. If you suspect a notifiable disease in your animals you must report it immediately by calling the Government Helpline. Failure to do so is an offence.

The number to report a suspect case is:

03000 200 301 in England

0300 303 268 in Wales

With the children returning to school this week, Christmas already feels like a distant memory. This is particularly true for farmers who spent most of the holiday period again enduring the spates of bad weather and continuing with the day-to-day work on the farmyard. 

Indeed, these long hours were highlighted last week in the Farmers’ Weekly annual Sentiment Survey of the farming sector, which found that, on average, farmers take just over seven days a year away as holiday per year. Interestingly, it was farmers in Wales that took the shortest breaks, with 29% of respondents saying they had no time away at all in a year.

Looking back at 2024, unsurprisingly perhaps, the survey identified the greatest challenge facing farmers of the past 12-months was extreme weather. Of the record 767 respondents to the survey, 40% of farmers saw weather as the main challenge (up from 31% last year). This will come as little surprise for Welsh farmers, who will recall last winter’s deluge of wet weather which caused havoc both for crops and during lambing. More recently, of course, we’ve seen storms Conall and Darragh usher in their own challenges - from flooding to damage to buildings and vehicles. With the climate and weather becoming increasingly extreme and unpredictable, how the sector learns to endure and adapt to these challenges will be key over the coming years. 

Beyond the weather, it will come as little surprise to Welsh farmers that the second cause of concern for farmers was government policy. A fifth of respondents saw this as the greatest challenge to the sector (up 16%), with concern in Wales particularly sizable. 

Considering the unrest and frustration seen across Wales and beyond over the past 12 months, the results of this survey are no surprise to Welsh farmers. Again, the concerns echoes discontent in the sector following the initial Sustainable Farming Scheme proposals, as well as the Welsh Government’s inaction over bTB and the introduction of the NVZ regulations which ignored the advice of Farmers and Natural Resources Wales. 

Whilst progress has been made in the interim regarding the revised SFS proposals, much of this has been overshadowed by the UK Government’s proposed reforms to inheritance tax.  This has caused frustration and a feeling of betrayal within the farming sector. Too often we’ve seen governments at both ends of the M4 impose a top down approach to law-making which has led to anger and disillusionment within the sector.

Considering concerns surrounding the extreme weather, government policy, and many other challenges, perhaps it’s unsurprising “demoralised” came out on top in the survey when farmers were asked how they feel about life in the agricultural sector. 

However, despite the pessimism in the sector, it is crucial we do remember the crucial work Welsh farmers undertake on a daily basis in producing high quality food and safeguarding the environment. With a new year in front of us, the Farmers’ Union of Wales will continue to fight to ensure Welsh agriculture sectors’ concerns are heard loud and clear.

“How long would it last?” Those were the questions of December and January. Not even the most ‘disloyal’ of farmers would have ventured to give to the Union more than three months at the outside. Well now, despite the critics, despite the harsh words, and looking back, the Union, despite everything, has thrived and gone from strength to strength.”

The opening line of the first ever edition of Y Tir, published on January 1st 1957 - referencing the Farmers’ Union of Wales’ formation in the twilight of 1955.

Despite the dramatic changes we’ve seen in agriculture, society and governance over the past seven decades, the Farmers’ Union of Wales’ support of Welsh farmers has remained unwavering. Indeed, it fills me with pride that despite the drastic changes and challenges endured by the sector, the Union’s core value of safeguarding Welsh family farms remains as central to our work today as it was seventy years ago.

As we therefore mark this important milestone in the FUW’s existence, I look forward to engaging with members and the sector in celebrations and events across Wales throughout 2025. This will provide an opportunity not only to look back at the Union’s story and successes, but also the chance to consider the wider challenges and opportunities that face Welsh farming today in the twenty-first century. 

Considering the upheaval and uncertainty seen within the sector in 2024, I do hope 2025 will provide greater stability for farmers than the previous 12 months. To this end, we do welcome the Welsh Government’s commitment to maintain the Basic Payment Scheme ceiling at £238m as part of their draft budget for 2025-2026. Maintaining BPS funding - which remains so crucial to so many farmers - is to be welcomed, however it's disappointing that this figure has seen no uplift again this year to allow for inflation, which has been eroding the value of our BPS payments, in real terms, for the last 10 years. Questions also remain as to how the funding for agriculture in Wales compares with the previous investment from European support programmes, as well as how agricultural funding will be ringfenced as part of a revised Welsh Government departmental structure which now sees Climate Change and Rural Affairs together.

On the topic of farming funding, all eyes will inevitably be drawn to the Welsh Government’s statement this summer on the payment modelling for the Sustainable Farming Scheme, The FUW has welcomed the opportunity to play a collaborative role in revising the SFS from the disastrous initial proposals - helping ensure the scrapping of 10% tree cover, whilst recognising common land and SSSIs. However, as we’ve made clear throughout, the devil will be in the detail, and the importance of an adequately funded scheme will not only be of paramount importance to the future of our family farms, but for rural Wales as a whole. 

Funding aside, we also eagerly await developments from the Welsh Government on both the NVZs review, and the work of the TB Eradication Programme Delivery Plan. Both NVZs and bTB provide huge challenges for the sustainability of Welsh farmers, and collaborative working with the sector will be key to address the varying problems stemming from both issues.

Turning to Westminster, from an agricultural perspective much of the recent discourse has focused on the changes to the inheritance tax and APR following October’s Budget. With the frustration and anger within the sector regarding the changes continuing to boil over, we will continue to press for the UK Government to review this policy, and the detriment it could cause to family farms and the farming sector in its entirety.

On the home front here at Gurnos, Sean and I are also looking forward to another year farming in partnership, and I'm sure he will have plenty of fresh ideas to move the business forward, picked up on his recent trip to New Zealand. 

As usual the weather will play a crucial role in our farming year and let's hope it's better than last year! Prices remain buoyant for our beef and lamb as we enter 2025 and long may that continue. The ewes are looking well as we start the year, but let's see how lambing goes.”Don't count your chickens before the eggs hatch “ is the phrase that aways comes to mind at this time of year. It seems relatively quiet here now that all the Wagyu calves have moved on to their new homes, and a decision hasn't been made yet about how many we will try and rear again this year, but more news on that in the coming months. 

A lot has changed since 1955, but ultimately the crucial role of Welsh farmers in producing high quality food, and maintaining the environment remains as important as ever before. Alongside FUW members, officers and staff, I look forward to another busy year, continuing to ensure the needs and interests of Welsh family farms are heard loud and clear. 

When it rains it pours. Looking back over the past twelve months, it has at times felt that a perfect storm has blighted the agricultural sector here in Wales - with challenge after challenge putting a further strain on hardworking Welsh farmers.

Speaking of rain, it’s hard to forget the deluge of wet weather we were forced to endure during the Winter months earlier in the year. One of the wettest winters on record saw little relief until the end of April, with the rainfall disrupting crops and making lambing season - already a stressful time for farmers’ - even more challenging.

It wasn’t just the rain that dampened the spirits, either. Across Europe, Spring saw clouds of discontent and industrial action emerge within the agricultural sector, which were soon to be replicated in Wales. On the back of continued frustration at Government inaction on bTB, the unfit for purpose NVZs regulations, and the newly introduced SFS scheme, who can forget the ‘Enough is Enough’ protests in Welshpool, Carmarthen and Cardiff - galvanising the sense of anger and frustration within our farming communities.

The latter of these sparks of discontent - the Sustainable Farming Scheme - has been an issue I have become particularly familiar with over recent months. As FUW outlined at the time, so many aspects of the Scheme were unworkable - from the 10% tree cover, to the sizable number of Universal Actions, to the omission of SSSIs and common land - there’s little surprise the consultation around the proposals drew a record breaking 12,000 responses. 

Since Spring, and the uproar that surrounded these SFS proposals, we’ve had the opportunity to work closely with the Welsh Government and stakeholders to revise these proposals. It’s not always been easy, but I do believe that through the revised Outline, launched at the Winter Fair, that we are now in a better place as a result.

Crucially however, this still only remains the end of the beginning. While there have been some significant changes to the scheme, there is still much work to be done on the detail and we must now ensure that the associated budget and payment methodology deliver real economic stability for our family farms in Wales as we face a backdrop of many other significant challenges.

Beyond the SFS, there have been other important developments in the agricultural sphere in the Senedd - particularly the revised governance structures stemming from Wales TB Eradication Programme Delivery Plan.Yet another year has passed by and we seem as far away from eradicating TB here in Wales as we ever have. As a Union, we remain determined  to play our part on the Eradication Programme Board and work closely with the Technical Advisory Group. As we’re reminded all too often, bTB remains a huge issue for Welsh farmers both financially and emotionally. It’s all too clear that we can not continue with the status quo, and we drastically need to change our approach in dealing with this cruel disease.

Speaking of change, July saw all change at Westminster, too - with Labour back in government for the first time in over a decade. With a significant cohort of new MP’s elected in Wales, it’s been a pleasure travelling across the length and breadth of Wales over recent months - from Môn to Monmouth - meeting many of the new MPs, highlighting the challenges facing Welsh agriculture. And there’s a lot to do, of course, as highlighted by the recent protests and uproar following the Budget and proposed change to APR and inheritance tax - and real concern over the impact this could have on Welsh family farms. At a time of great uncertainty and frustration this move - and lack of consultation with the industry - proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back after a particularly challenging  year.

On the home front, we've faced those same challenges here at Gurnos. The Wagyu calves have, by now, all moved on to their new homes. It seems to have gone quite well from our point of view again this year so having increased the number of calves reared from 48 in 2023 to 110 in 2024, have we got the capacity to increase numbers again next year? Something for Sean and I to think about before the spring. 

The sheep this year have been a bit of a mixed bag. The challenges have been, less lambs on the ground, caused by a combination of the weather and a stubbornly high barren rate in the flock. Added to this was the usual challenge to keep input costs under control. The upside has been that we seem to have got some control over the emerging tick problem that we are now seeing on the Mynydd Du, and the sheep came off the common this autumn looking a lot better than last year. And of course the prices we have seen this year for our stock still remain strong, long may that continue! 

It’s been a difficult year on many fronts, with many challenges to overcome. Despite all this we need to remain positive, “Yma o Hyd! “ and I would like to personally thank all of the staff, FUW and FUWIS, for all their hard work on behalf of us, the members, over the last twelve months. May I also take this opportunity to thank all of you for your continued support of the Union, and wish you the very best for Christmas, and a Happy, healthy new year. 

Nadolig Llawen!