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Gareth Vaughan[/caption]
By far the most important issue in 2011 will be the decisions made over the future of the Common Agricultural Policy which will affect farm businesses across the EU, said Farmers' Union of Wales president Gareth Vaughan in his New Year message.
"When the last major changes to the CAP took place in 2005, we were told that decoupling should prompt us to respond to markets. Since then, the industry has done just that - we have worked out the margins, decided that the market does not reward us fairly for our hard work and consequently production has fallen dramatically.
"This pattern, which is replicated across Europe, sends out a clear message to Brussels: if they value Europe's food security, they must ensure fair incomes for farmers, either through the CAP, or by ensuring fair returns from markets and tackling the imbalance of power in the supply chain.
"Failure to recognise this will decimate our food security and lead to massive social, economic, and environmental upheaval, all at a time when the concerning issues of peak oil and peak food should be a major concern for every person in the European Union.
"Over the coming months the FUW will do all it can raise awareness of this reality and the need for a post-2013 CAP which supports Welsh family farms."
Mr Vaughan said farmers throughout Wales are struggling to keep on top of all the work and worry the heavy snow has brought and, despite all the beautiful scenes which now surround us, they are all praying for a let up in the weather.
"As a Union we have to choose our battles carefully, and while controlling the weather is sadly not one we can win, anyone who is up to date with farming news will be able to guess what battles do lie ahead in 2011.
"Foremost in many people's minds is the prickly issue of the Glastir agri-environment scheme and the Minister's decision to extend the Tir Mynydd scheme by 12 months - something we called for in November 2009 - is a welcome move.
"However, the Assembly must now start properly listening to our concerns and make the scheme criteria as accessible and acceptable to farmers as possible.
"Then there is the issue of bovine TB, and the desperate need for a proportionate approach to be taken towards tackling the disease in both cattle and badgers.
"With farms throughout Wales faced with the huge burden of extra testing, there is a real need to revisit the current pre-movement testing regime.
"I believe it is regrettable that we were the only farming organisation which objected to the introduction of pre-movement testing in low or zero incidence areas - a view based upon analyses of herd breakdowns which showed incidence levels in parts of Wales to be lower than in Scotland, a country which is officially bTB Free and has no pre-movement testing requirement.
"In light of the impact of such extra testing, action must be taken to deal with the wildlife reservoir otherwise further attempts to control the disease in cattle are futile.
"The Assembly must therefore push on with its plans to tackle the disease in badgers in north Pembrokeshire, with a view to expanding such action to other areas where badgers are known to carry the disease.
"Other issues of concern in 2011 will include the completely unacceptable plans to transfer the costs of overly burdensome meat hygiene rules to the industry, and the ongoing impact of supermarket power - issues regarding which the FUW is committed to