[caption id="attachment_4920" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
from left to right: FUW Montgomeryshire county chairman Mark Williams, NFU county chairman Jonathan Wilkinson, William Hague MP, Glyn Davies MP, FUW Montgomeryshire county executive officer Susan Jones and FUW land use and parliamentary committee delegate Brian Jones.[/caption]
Farming representatives from the Farmers’ Union of Wales Montgomeryshire branch met with top level politicians when they visited Welshpool Livestock Sales on Monday February 16.
Members questioned William Hague MP, who recently bought Cyfronydd Hall and was paying a visit to the area, Glyn Davies MP and Russell George AM on a variety of topics during their visit.
One issue raised with Mr Hague was the importance of the European CAP to rural areas such as Montgomeryshire and how the uncertainty caused by the referendum would impact on an industry that had already suffered from volatile market prices.
“We were pleased to highlight the point that whilst the beef sector has improved slightly, lamb prices have been poor in 2014 and the current difficulties experienced by the dairy sector highlight the importance of granting more powers to the supermarket ombudsman,” said FUW Montgomeryshire county chairman Mark Williams.
“Most dairy farmers sell to a processor and not direct to a supermarket so they are not covered by the ombudsman remit, which is limited to direct suppliers only. As a union we were pleased to further stress that the eradication of Bovine TB is a major concern for the industry and that there are many problems caused by differing TB testing regimes operating in England and Wales. In Wales, all herds are tested on an annual testing regime while England continues with risk based TB testing, which can see cattle tested on a four-yearly basis. Ultimately, we made it clear that this was causing trading issues,” added Mr Williams.
There was also a strong call from all the representatives present to support the Young Farmers movement in Wales after news of the severe funding cuts imposed on the organisation.
“Through the Young Farmers clubs activities in education, training, charity and social skills many young people have benefited from the confidence these activities gave them and we were pleased to also raise this issue with Mr Hague. This meeting was a wonderful opportunity to put our present and future concerns regarding the farming industry to Mr Hague and welcomed his move to Montgomeryshire,” added Mr Williams.