The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) says concerns that a trade deal struck with Australia could be severely damaging to UK farming and food production are well founded and echo worries expressed repeatedly by the union over the past five years.

The comment came after the Financial Times reported on a “ferocious” internal battle within the UK Government between the Department of International Trade and Defra over the terms of a UK-Australia trade deal that could allow food produced in Australia to be imported to the UK tariff-free.

FUW President Glyn Roberts said: “It’s very clear that the British public is opposed to opening the flood-gates to produce from countries where farmers do not have to comply with the high standards we have here, and we fully support those within government who are fighting such proposals.  

A tenant farming family from Montgomeryshire has hit a brick wall over the Welsh Government’s recently introduced Water Resources Regulations, with their landlord standing in the way of their ability to comply with the new regulations. Bryan Jones, his wife Susan and son Andrew, farm at Coedyparc, Caersws, Powys, a 105 acre all grassland farm which is home to a 85 strong closed dairy herd. 

The family, who have been farming here since 1973 on a lifetime tenancy agreement, are worried that with their landlord unwilling to foot the bill for the costly capital works required to be compliant with the new regulations and the banks not lending money for works carried out on tenant farms, it will spell the end of their farming lives on the holding.

Bryan Jones said: “I’ve been milking cows my entire life, starting when I was just 12 years old and will mark my 66th year of dairy farming this year. It’s what we do as a family. It’s our life. We have never had a pollution incident here. NRW through their own assessment have confirmed that there is no pollution here, but we still need to comply with these new regulations and carry out works at eye watering costs which will be in the region of £70,000. Who is going to pay for that? 

The Farmers’ Union of Wales has welcomed the news that free BVD testing for cattle farmers in Wales has been extended until 31 December 2022. The testing, which is provided through Gwaredu BVD, supports both youngstock testing and the hunt for persistently infected animals in order to help herds eliminate the disease and achieve BVD free status.

Over 8,600 of Welsh herds (80%) have been screened for Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) since its launch in 2017. From the 8,600 herds already screened, approximately 2,446 (26.1%) have tested positive. The programme now aims to continue working with farmers and their vets to identify the persistently infected (PI) animals. 

Farmers’ Union of Wales President Glyn Roberts and Deputy President Ian Rickman have met with the agriculture leads of the main political parties in the run-up to the Welsh Senedd elections, highlighting industry concerns and the Union’s key manifesto asks.

Welcoming the opportunity to query various pledges made by the parties in their manifestos the President and Deputy President were able to emphasise the importance of the next Government committing to stability, family farms, supporting rural communities and Welsh jobs, sustainable agriculture and rewarding environmental outcomes.

The Union will hold the parties to account on their commitments to farming and work closely with the next Government to ensure future policies support thriving, sustainable family farms- for the benefit of the rural economy, the environment, food security and our unique rural culture and traditions.

Glamorgan beef and sheep farmers Richard Walker and his partner Rachel Edwards run Flaxland Farm - a 120 acre beef and sheep holding just outside of Barry, Glamorgan. The couple say they will have to give up keeping cattle if current Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations are not adjusted to incorporate recommendations made by industry stakeholder groups. 

Richard and Rachel keep 35 breeding cows and 130 breeding ewes and are at the end of their tether.

“We’ve had a session with Farming Connect to see what we need to be doing, and it didn’t really tell us anything we didn’t already know, apart from that we have enough ground to cope with how much slurry we produce. So we wouldn’t have to export. But we would have to cover one of the existing yards, which is an awkward shape, plus cover where we scrape slurry to, and also put in a slurry store. Which we don’t have at the moment,” said Rachel Edwards. 

The need to urgently deal with bovine TB across Wales was hotly debated by the Farmers’ Union of Wales’ animal health and welfare committee at a recent virtual meeting ahead of the Welsh Senedd election in May.

Speaking at the meeting, Ian Lloyd, FUW Animal Health and Welfare Committee chairman said: “It is a sad reflection of the ongoing problems caused by Bovine TB that the disease still warrants such detailed discussions. While improvements have been made since 2009 in regard to new herd incidents, the latest statistics show that 9,762 animals were slaughtered in the year to December 2020 in Wales.”