The recently-retired chief executive of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society (RWAS) and a champion of uplands farming were honoured by the Farmers' Union of Wales during the union's annual general meeting in Aberystwyth today (Monday June 17).
David Walters, who joined the RWAS as assistant secretary in January 1976 after graduating from University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, with a BSc Honours degree in agriculture, was presented with the FUW's annual External Award for services to the agricultural industry in Wales.
And Derek Morgan, chairman of the union's hill farming and marginal land committee, received the annual Internal Award in recognition of services to the FUW and the agricultural industry in Wales.
Paying tribute to the contribution of both winners to Welsh farming for so many years, FUW president Emyr Jones said: "It is highly significant that the nominations for these awards were made by the union's members throughout Wales and then our county branches vote on each nomination.
"This ensures those who receive the awards are very worthy recipients and can be assured they have the strong support of a huge number of Welsh farmers."
Carmarthenshire-born Mr Walters was promoted to RWAS secretary in 1978 and appointed chief executive in 1984 since when he has also been honorary secretary of the Council for Awards of Royal Agricultural Societies in Wales.
He was awarded an Associateship of the Royal Agricultural Societies in July 1991 and its Fellowship in April 1996. In July 2003 he was awarded a Fellowship of the University of Wales Aberystwyth and received the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of June 2005.
He is a former member of the Institute of Rural Sciences Advisory Committee, University of Wales Aberystwyth Court and Council, the Museum of Welsh Life Advisory Committee and of the former Independent Broadcasting Authority.
He is a past president of Llangadog YFC, a co-opted member of the Wales YFC board of management since 2001 and was chairman of Llangadog Races for 10 years until 1996.
Sixty-three-year-old Mr Morgan, of Safn y Coed, Llangurig, Powys, is a farmer with over 40 years’ experience in the industry. He runs an upland family farm in the Upper Wye Valley rearing Welsh sheep.
He is a former member of the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) and Fallen Stock Committee and Animal ID Stakeholders Groups.
He is chairman of the Welsh Upland Forum, set up in 2004 to advise the Minister for Rural Affairs in the Welsh Assembly on upland farming issues, and sits on the Stakeholders Group reviewing the Axis 2 Scheme of the new Rural Development Plan.
During the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak he represented the FUW on the Defra Stakeholders’ Group in London and continues to sit on the group.
In 1997 he was a founder member and remains chairman of the Welsh Sheep Dog Society set up to save the indigenous Welsh sheep dog which was in danger of becoming extinct. To date, over 1,000 puppies have successfully been registered.
During 1993 Mr Morgan was asked to set up a Ram Performance Group by the Welsh Sheep Strategy and it has continued to be a success in view of its involvement with the Sire Reference Schemes.
He joined the FUW in 1985 and became vice chairman of the Brecon and Radnor branch for three years before becoming chairman. He became vice chairman and then chairman of the central hill farming and marginal land committee, a post he has held for 11 years.
In 2009 he was appointed a member of the Welsh Food Advisory Committee which provides advice and information to the Food Standards Agency.
In 1988 Safn y Coed became one of the first Technology Interactive Resource farms in Wales which are now called Demonstration Farms by the Welsh Assembly Farming Connect programme.
He was awarded a scholarship in 1999 to visit New Zealand for a month to see how their Monitor Farm System works and during this time he travelled extensively in the North and South Islands viewing a total of 18 farms.
Mr Morgan now organises Safn-y-Coed discussion groups which meet regularly to talk about issues relevant to the industry.
In 2002 he was asked by Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC) to become one of the trial farms for electronic ID tagging for sheep to evaluate the software, hardware and tags needed for electronic identification.
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Hill farmers' champion Derek Morgan[/caption]
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David Walters (left) receives the FUW external award from Emyr Jones[/caption]