[caption id="attachment_4495" align="aligncenter" width="300"] NEW FUW LANDUSE AND PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN GAVIN WILLIAMS[/caption]

Anglesey farmer Gavin Williams has been elected as the new chairman of the Farmers' Union of Wales's land use and parliamentary committee.

Mr Williams, a qualified accountant since 1979 and active member of the union's Anglesey county executive committee, farms around 90 acres at Pen-y-Bryn, Llynfaes. Together with his wife Nerys, a nursery school teacher, he runs a flock of 200 Lleyn sheep.

He said: "It is a great honour for me to be elected as chairman and I look forward to continuing the good work the previous chairman, Richard Vaughan, has done for the union and its members."

Chris Lewis, of Glangwy Farm, Builth Wells, was elected vice chairman of the committee.

He runs a fully organic 250-acre farm with his wife Gwlithyn where he grows barley, triticale and spring beans for their 50 cows, mostly Simmental cross, all progeny, 200 Texel cross ewes, four Kunekune pig sows and one boar.

He was county vice-chairman from 2004-2007, county chairman 2007-2010 and county president since last year. Mr Lewis has been a delegate on the land use and parliamentary committee for the past few years.

He said: "I am very pleased to be elected vice chairman of the committee and will of course be working hard for our members."

Mr Vaughan, who stepped down as chairman of the committee after five years, was recently elected vice president of the union. Together with his wife Dwynwen he farms Pall Mall Farm, Tywyn, which is one of two holdings totalling 550 acres. Most of the land is at Pant y Panel and Prysglwyd at Rhydymain, near Dolgellau.

A flock of 750 Welsh Mountain sheep is kept together with 150 ewe lamb replacements. Around 200 ewes are crossed with Texel and Suffolk rams and the remainder with Welsh Mountain. Approximately 30 store cattle are kept and fattened over the summer.

Farmers' Union of Wales leaders today called for the early reinstatement of the Tir Mynydd scheme which supports the less productive farming areas of Wales when they met deputy agriculture minister Alun Davies today.

FUW president Emyr Jones, his deputy Glyn Roberts and deputy policy director Rhian Nowell-Phillips urged the minister to reinstate the scheme in time for the 2012 IACS exercise dealing with single farm payments.

"Due to the low number of farmers entering Tir Mynydd's replacement scheme, Glastir, and the expected uncertainties over CAP reform we called for Tir Mynydd payments to be reinstated in time for the 2012 IACS due to be paid in 2013," said Mr Jones.

The Tir Mynydd scheme supports and maintains livestock production in the less productive farming areas of Wales. It is funded by the Rural Development Plan for Wales 2007-2013 which is financed by the Welsh Government and the EU.

Approximately 80% of the total 1.6 million hectares of agricultural land in Wales falls within the designated Less Favoured Area (LFA). Some 56% of the land in Wales is in the Severely Disadvantaged Area (SDA) and 23% in the Disadvantaged Area (DA).

Glastir is a five-year land management scheme, available to farmers and land managers across Wales, that the Welsh Government wants to replace the existing four agri-environment schemes from 2012.

"As well as Glastir, we followed up on other issues concerning CAP reform which we originally raised with Mr Davies in Brussels last week," said Mr Jones.

"We also brought up the plight of the dairy industry and highlighted the disparity between milk prices in the UK and the rest of Europe.

"We called for Welsh dairy farmers to have contracts which reflect some elements of a pricing formula so that producers can plan ahead for the future."

[caption id="attachment_4490" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pictured from left are Alun Davies, Deputy Welsh Agriculture Minister; Derek Vaughan MEP and Emyr Jones, FUW President.[/caption]

A Farmers' Union of Wales delegation visiting Brussels to discuss CAP reform met deputy Welsh agriculture minister Alun Davies just before he attended his first EU Agriculture Council meeting as part of the UK ministerial team alongside Defra minister Jim Paice.

"We made the most of the opportunity to tell the minister about the purpose of our visit and explain to him that we were in Brussels to fight for the future of Welsh family farms," said FUW president Emyr Jones.

Mr Davies was attending the Council as part of a two-day programme in Brussels for discussions with Mr Paice about CAP reform.

He also met Welsh MEPs and highlighted an innovative Welsh project to deliver added-value on new food products.

The showcase event highlighted the Knowledge Innovation Technology Exchange (KITE) project, delivered by the Food Industry Centre of the University of Wales Cardiff (UWIC). The programme provides a flexible package of support for small firms to help them develop the technical aspects of their businesses.

"I was impressed to learn that in the eighteen months it has been operating, the project has developed over 50 new food products, which is expected to double by the end of 2011, and over 70 jobs have been created in technical and manufacturing roles," Mr Jones added.

During the FUW's four-day visit he has led discussions with all four Welsh MEPs, the Italian chairman the European agriculture and rural development committee and other committee members from Germany, Scotland, Ireland and England.

A Farmers' Union of Wales delegation's four-day Brussels visit to discuss reform of the Common Agricultural Policy for 2014-2020 had an eventful start today.

The five-strong group is meeting MEPs from across the EU and senior EC and Welsh Government Brussels-based officials in a visit coinciding with crucial CAP discussions by the Council of Ministers and the EU Agriculture Committee.

But during their first meeting at the European Parliament building with UKIP MEP John Stuart Agnew, a member of the EC's agriculture and rural development committee, all staff and visitors were evacuated due to a massive power cut.

"We had a very constructive meeting with Mr Agnew, who is a farmer himself and fully understands the issues we discussed." said FUW president Emyr Jones.

"But it was only after the meeting ended that we realised the building had been evacuated.

"We were among the last few to leave the building.

"Hundreds had already left and we joined them outside on the concourse.

"We hope power will be restored quickly so we can resume our vital talks tomorrow," Mr Jones added.

[caption id="attachment_4485" align="aligncenter" width="500"] MAKING OF A LEGEND: FUW Meirionnydd county officer Huw Jones and Nigel Mansell flanked by brothers Geraint and Dylan Evans.[/caption]

A North Wales farmer has claimed he helped start British motor racing legend Nigel Mansell on the road to becoming a Formula One champion.

Gwynfor Evans, a former Farmers' Union of Wales Meirionnydd county chairman, owns Islawrffordd Caravan Park overlooking Cardigan Bay at Talybont, near Barmouth, which has just celebrated its 55th anniversary.

And Mansell changed an international engagement to attend the celebrations at the park where he has taken regular holidays since he was four years old and has developed a close friendship with Gwynfor who runs it with his sons Dylan and Geraint.

Gwynfor's brother Robert Wyn Evans currently represents Meirionnydd on the FUW's grand council and is also a former county chairman.

Gwynfor believes Islawrffordd may well have contributed to Nigel’s successful racing career.

“He used to race around the fields in a boxcart as a child while on holiday here."

Mansell referred to the wonderful childhood memories of his holidays at Talybont and said Gwynfor used to take him to milk the cows early in the morning.

“Very few people can say that they have been coming to the same place for 55 years and I am so proud of what the Evans family has achieved,” he told guests at the special birthday party.

“What they have done every year is improve the quality of the park.

“I love coming here to relax, play a bit of golf at Harlech on one of the best courses in the country and to take in the wonderful walks and beaches. My family likes the total freedom that caravanning offers.”

The FUW was represented among the 200 guests at the prestigious event which also celebrated the completion of the park's improvements programme and attainment of Visit Wales 5 Star status.

The 25-acre park was originally established as a farm diversification project by Gwynfor Evans in the late 1950s. It now has 75 fully serviced, hard standing pitches for touring caravans and motorhomes, 30 camping plots and 201 caravan holiday homes.

The new developments take the family’’s investment in the park, which now boasts five stars from Visit Wales and five pennants from the AA, to £2.1 million over the last eight years.

Six years ago, Mansell officially opened the park’s reception suite, enhanced swimming pool complex with a jacuzzi, sauna and seating area before the Evans family invested a further £400,000 on a new luxury toilet block.

Such is the demand for holiday homes at Islawrffordd that there is a waiting list to join owners from Shropshire, the West Midlands, Wrexham area, Cheshire and Wirral.

The new fully serviced pitches have also been a huge hit with touring caravan and motorhome owners this summer and the park has received record advance bookings for 2012.

We are already virtually fully booked for Whitsun and the main weeks in July and August are filling up fast,” said John Billingham, Islawrffordd’s business manager. “It has been a very busy summer, around 25 per cent up on last year.

“People like the quality facilities that we offer and they seem to be opting for less expensive breaks in this country instead of spending on a foreign holiday.”

Dylan Evans said the 55th birthday party was an important milestone in the park’’s history and praised his father and grandmother for their vision in diversifying from farming.

A top-level delegation of Farmers' Union of Wales leaders and officers today (Monday September 19) began a four-day stint of talks in Brussels to spell out their concerns and aspirations for reform of the Common Agricultural Policy for 2014-2020.

The five-strong group is meeting MEPs from across the EU and senior EC and Welsh Government Brussels-based officials in a visit coinciding with crucial CAP discussions by the Council of Ministers and the EU Agriculture Committee.

“The decisions made over the coming months at an EU level will have far reaching consequences for the economy, landscape and culture of Wales, not to mention the ability of the EU as a whole to face the looming food shortages that experts predict will hit us sooner rather than later,” said FUW president Emyr Jones, who is leading the delegation.

“Over the coming days we will be highlighting the importance of a strong CAP which supports the family farm where the overwhelming majority of our food is produced.”

A package of proposals for the CAP 2014-2020 has already been circulated to all EC departments as part of an ongoing consultation and these papers have been leaked to the press.

The seven papers within the package are: direct payments, the common organisation of markets, rural development, financing and monitoring of the policy, aids and refunds related to agricultural products, the wine market and direct payments in 2013.

Mr Jones said the FUW had already written to Welsh deputy minister for agriculture, food, fisheries and European programmes Alun Davies highlighting key areas of concern in the leaked EC draft CAP proposals which, when finalised, will lay down the rules for future direct payments to farmers throughout Europe.

"They could have far-reaching consequences for Welsh farmers if left unaltered," said Mr Jones.

"This leaked document is a very early and incomplete draft and the main thrust of our visit to Brussels is to take the opportunity to lobby for changes.

"We intend to highlight to the Welsh Government and Brussels the impact that the proposed regulations would have on Welsh farmers if left unchanged.

“We know from modelling carried out by the union over the past two years that some of the proposals in the draft papers would be disastrous for our rural communities."

FUW members and other Welsh agricultural industry officials will have an opportunity to voice their views about the EC's proposals on Thursday October 20 during a conference organised by the union at Aberystwyth Arts Centre under the theme “Unravelling CAP Reform".

The speakers will be: Tassos Haniotis, Director of Economic Analysis, Perspectives and Evaluations at the EC Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development; George Lyon MEP, former Rapporteur for the EU Agriculture Committee; Jeremy Walker, National Chairman of the Tenant Farmers’ Association and Dr Nick Fenwick, FUW Director of Agricultural Policy.

"The conference will provide an ideal opportunity to hear about developments to date and the possible or likely impact of CAP reform on the agriculture, economy, and landscape of Wales and similar regions," added Mr Jones.