Concerns for the Welsh agricultural sector are stacking up as details of a free trade deal with New Zealand are on the horizon. The deadline for the trade deal has been mooted to be the end of August, according to the UK Government. 

The UK and New Zealand free trade deal is said to have been worth over £2.3 billion in 2020, with the figure likely to increase as a result of a wide-ranging trade deal.

FUW Vice President Dai Miles said: “The biggest problem with these trade deals is the volatility it will add to UK markets for all sectors. Currently with the demand from China, meat and dairy products from New Zealand and Australia are going there. If that demand in China drops, the UK will be exposed to potentially very cheap imports with no way of controlling their volume or price. 

The announcement that a raft of additional restrictions on animal movements will be introduced in England and Wales and confirmation that live animal exports will be banned has been described as ‘utter hypocrisy’ by the Farmers’ Union of Wales.

The UK and Welsh Government announced on Wednesday 18 August that animal movement rules - which are already amongst the strictest in the world - would be tightened up significantly, despite standards in other countries not coming close to those already required in the UK. The announcement also confirmed that the new proposals would come in alongside a ban on live animal exports.

FUW President Glyn Roberts said: “The decision to tighten the Welsh and English rules while opening the door to more foreign food produced to far lower welfare standards is utter hypocrisy. 

Pembrokeshire beef, arable and sheep farmer Mathew Van Dijk and Farmers’ Union of Wales officials from Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire have raised concerns of the farming industry with Member of the Senedd for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire Sam Kurtz.

The meeting was held at Arnolds Hill Farm, Slebech, Haverfordwest, which together with Square Farm next door, is a 300 acre holding which is home to around 150 head of cattle and 50 breeding sheep.Between the two farms, Mathew Van Dijk and his partner Cath Davies keep Limousin and Limousin cross suckler cows. The calves are reared to 20 - 24 months old and they also keep some pedigree breeding bulls.  The couple also grow 32 acres of spring barley, 7 acres of winter barley and 112 acres of maize.

Speaking to Mr Kurtz, Mathew highlighted that the main issues affecting the business going forward were reduced bull sales at the market because of the on-going bovine TB crisis, a slow planning application system, the agricultural pollution regulations and uncertainty surrounding support payments going forward. 

The Farmers’ Union of Wales is to discuss the merits and drawbacks of limiting the amount of carbon credits that can be sold from Welsh land, carbon trading quotas and other approaches that might be applied in Wales. 

During a recent meeting of the FUW’s Land Use and Parliamentary Committee, members expressed extreme concern that a large proportion of the carbon locked and sequestered in Welsh land could be sold to other countries and companies outside Wales, undermining the ability of Welsh agriculture or even Wales as a whole to become carbon neutral.

They also highlighted ongoing concerns that Welsh farms were being purchased by companies from outside Wales in order to cash in on Wales’ carbon.

The committee therefore agreed that a quota system should be introduced to reduce this risk, and it was agreed at a subsequent meeting of the FUW’s Presidential Policy Team that the pros and cons of such limits should be the subject of detailed discussion by all FUW committee chairmen and the presidential team. 

A Flintshire organic dairy farmer has raised industry concerns around bovine TB and the Water Resource regulations with regional North West Member of the Senedd Carolyn Thomas, when the family welcomed her to the family farm.

John and Jenny Wrench, who are the third generation on the tenanted holding, farm in partnership with John’s parents Stephen and Anne, as well as grandparents John and Vera, at Beeches Farm, Saltney Ferry in Flintshire. 

The 186 hectare holding was once a beef, sheep and arable farm. However, as corn prices didn’t change over 20 years whilst machinery costs trebled, the margins on beef became tighter and livestock worrying increased, the family decided to start dairy farming. They now have 130 dairy cows and hope to increase this to 250 milking cows. The family also keep 100 young stock. 

The decision to convert the holding to dairy in 2020 was not an easy one to make and put enormous financial pressure on the family. To future proof the farm business, the Wrench family have invested heavily in winter housing and feeding infrastructure for their dairy cows. Whilst the landlord has been supportive, they have made all the investments themselves. 

Solutions to the ongoing farm safety dilemma were discussed at a webinar organised by Farmers’ Union of Wales Insurance Services Ltd. (FUWIS) as part of the virtual Royal Welsh Show. 

Keynote speakers on the day included Tony Succamore,Sales and Operations Director of FUW Insurance Services Ltd; Georgina Davis, Business Development Manager (Midlands) at British Engineering Services; Health and Safety Executive representative Christopher Maher and Farm safety expert and instructor Brian Rees. Chairing the webinar was Farmers’ Union of Wales Deputy President and FUW Insurance Services Ltd. board member Ian Rickman.

Opening the event, Mr Rickman said: “It saddens me to know that despite efforts to highlight the dangers on farms time and time again, we have still not seen a decrease in these figures. Together with our partners in the Wales Farm Safety Partnership, we are working on raising awareness and reducing the risk of harm faced by those in our industry. 

“We have got used to hearing those kinds of statistics over the years but we need to keep putting that message out there and get an improvement on those figures. As farmers we are busy, with silage and hay at the moment, but planning and jotting down a few thoughts on what the risks are could really help.”