[caption id="attachment_4381" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Farmers' Union of Wales South Pembrokeshire area officer Susie Morgan[/caption]

Farmers' Union of Wales South Pembrokeshire area officer Susie Morgan has been presented with the union's insurance services award for the most improved performance linked to business development.

Presenting the award at the union's annual general meeting in Aberystwyth, new president Emyr Jones said: "This award is associated with all aspects of an area officer’s work.

"We have seen dramatic changes to our insurance services delivery system during the last four years and this award reflects positive attitude to these changes.

"It reflects growth, collecting on time, administration, electronic trading, new business and customer care. Indeed, becoming a better area officer."

Susie, of Jeffreyston, Kilgetty, said: "Having worked with the FUW now for 10 years the recent changes within the insurance department mean we are no longer dependant on a single insurer.

"This has set me in good stead to service my customers with a wide range of products underwritten by a panel of specialist commercial, agricultural and personal lines insurance companies.

"Coming from a farming background I have pleasure in visiting farms to discuss their insurance needs and ensuring the cover provided is adequate for their needs. It is not just for farmers that we can offer competitive insurance but also cover for shops and offices, builders and contractors, small businesses, private and commercial vehicles, and home and contents."

In her spare time she enjoys helping on the farm and looking after her horses along with being secretary of her local show, Martletwy Show, which will be held on Wednesday August 24 at Carew Airfield, Sageston.

She would be pleased to discuss any aspect of insurance requirements with both new and existing customers. She can be contacted on 07968 076 180.

The decision of MEPs from across the political spectrum to support the "Dess Report" on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was described by new Farmers' Union of Wales president Emyr Jones today as a significant step forward.

However, in welcoming the report's general thrust and its emphasis on food production, Mr Jones expressed concern over proposals to introduce further "greening measures" into the regime.

"The significant emphasis on the need to retain the CAP budget and ensure continued food production in the EU is welcome, and demonstrates that MEPs are aware of the major challenges facing the world over the coming decades," he said. "However, unless we are careful ''greening'' will simply serve to limit food production.

"The FUW continues to argue that any greening measures should be focused on maximising production while minimising environmental impact in a way which actually benefits both the environment and farmers, for example by reducing input costs and increasing efficiency."

The report approved by the MEPs proposes that payments are subject to farmers choosing greening measures from a menu which could include lowering carbon emissions, capturing greenhouse gas emissions, buffer strips, field margins, hedges, maintaining permanent pasture, crop rotation and crop diversity plans.

The report also gives the go-ahead to capping of individual CAP payments made to farmers.

"The FUW has consulted widely with its membership over capping and the clear view is that the membership does not object to the principle so long as the number of employees or family members supported by farm businesses is taken into account," said Mr Jones.

The report also calls for suitable policy instruments to be put in place to support the dairy industry after the abolition of milk quotas in 2015.

"The FUW has long been opposed to the abolition of the quota regime because of the disruption and dangers which will accompany the move, not least increases in price volatility and the dangers of over-production without any safety net. It now seems that Europe has finally woken up to these.

The Commission's detailed legislative proposals on CAP reform are due to be released in October and must be drawn up in light of the contents of the report.

The Farmers' Union of Wales today reacted angrily to Welsh Government plans to appoint a panel to review the science in relation to a planned badger cull in north Pembrokeshire and other Welsh bTB measures.

Speaking outside the National Assembly after the announcement by Minister John Griffiths, FUW TB spokesman and vice president Brian Walters said: "The previous policy was based on firm scientific evidence which shows badger culling in north Pembrokeshire would significantly reduce TB in cattle.

"The latest scientific evidence, released in April this year, simply reinforces that previously policy.

"It shows a 31.5% reduction in confirmed TB herd incidences in English badger culling areas over the four and a half year period after badger culling ended, and a reduction of 37% in the six months to March 2011.

"Cattle farmers are being crippled by this disease, are incurring massive extra costs and are seeing their businesses locked down, particularly in north Pembrokeshire where harsh restrictions have been in place for well over a year.

"Yet we seem to be procrastinating over the major obstacle to disease eradication, which is the massive presence of TB in badgers."

According to the latest available statistics on TB in cattle and badgers across Wales, the rate of TB in badgers is around 32 times higher than it is in cattle.

Mr Walters added that, while the FUW fully supports the development of a practical and effective badger vaccine, no vaccine candidate had yet been shown to be worthwhile.

"Some people are giving out extremely misleading statements which suggest that we could be reducing TB incidences by vaccination as we speak.

"Important progress was made public in November last year when a paper on catching and injecting badgers with BCG vaccine was published.

"However, the scientists responsible made it clear that we did not yet know the effectiveness of vaccination as a tool by which to reduce TB incidences."

Mr Walters was referring to a briefing note, issued by the scientists responsible for the vaccine research, which stated that "...the field results cannot tell us the degree of vaccine efficacy...Several thousand badgers would need to be killed to determine the presence and severity of TB at detailed post-mortem examination...we do not know how deployment of the badger vaccine in the field would affect TB incidence in cattle...A large-scale vaccination field trial, at least on the scale of the RBCT, would be needed to scientifically assess the impact of badger vaccination on the incidence of disease in cattle".

Mr Walters said badger culling, therefore, remains the only tried and tested method of reducing TB herd outbreaks in an area where TB is present in badgers.

"While we have seen an encouraging reduction in cattle TB incidences over the past two years, the latest figures suggest that the disease may be on the rise again.

"In the past five years more than 44,000 cattle have been culled in Wales due to TB. At the disease rates present in the 1990s it would have taken between 50 and 100 years for us to reach this number.

"We cannot keep stalling matters in order to avoid difficult decisions in relation to culling badgers. We know badger culling works, and badgers are nowhere near being endangered.

"According to the experts, if we were to carry out a proper badger vaccine trial this would also involve culling thousands of badgers, but with no guarantee of a positive outcome."

Following the election of Bala sheep and beef farmer Emyr Jones as president of the Farmers’ Union of Wales during the union’s annual general meeting last Friday, the rest of the influential finance and organisation committee members were revealed today.

Mr Jones’s deputy will be Glyn Roberts, Dylasau Uchaf, Padog, Betws-Y-Coed, Conwy, who has been one of the union’s three vice presidents since 2004.

Having completed a full-time agricultural course at Glynllifon College in 1976, and not being a farmer's son, he went to work as a shepherd at Dylasau Uchaf - a 350-acre farm owned by the National Trust  which he secured the tenancy of in 1983.

From 2006-2008 he was the FUW’s representative on the board of Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC) and for the past three years he has been a Welsh Assembly Government appointment non-executive director on the HCC board.

Carmarthenshire dairy farmer Brian Walters was re-elected one of the three vice presidents with Welsh Black Cattle breeder Lorraine Howells, of Rhymney, Gwent, and sheep farmer Richard Vaughan, of Tywyn, Meirionnydd, the other two.

Anglesey and Pembrokeshire dairy farmers Eifion Huws and Brian Thomas were elected north and south Wales representatives on the committee respectively.

Brian Walters, farms a 500-acre holding, with his wife Ann and sons Aled and Seimon, near Carmarthen. They have a dairy herd of 200 cows - some of which are pedigree Ayrshires - with 200 followers and 40 beef cattle.  They also run a self-catering farmhouse holiday unit and take pride in educating the occupants on the problems and joys of farming.

Miss Howells, who has been the south Wales member of the finance and organisation committee since 2000 and farms Cwm Carno Farm, a 220-acre hill farm most comprising reclaimed opencast land with common grazing.

The farm carries a suckler herd of pedigree Welsh Black cattle and South Wales Mountain ewes, and has been in the family for over 100 years.

Mr Vaughan and his wife Dwynwen’s Pall Mall Farm north of Tywyn 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 lambs 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.

Mr Huws has been an active member of the finance and organisation committee for the past five years. He is also chairman of the union’s milk and dairy produce committee.

He farms at Penrhos, Bodedern, a dairy farm with a 140-head pedigree Ayrshire herd which has an outstanding production and show record.

Mr Huws, a highly respected Ayrshire cattle judge, travels the length and breadth of the country, and in Europe, representing the dairy industry in the hope of acquiring better conditions and prices for farmers.

Mr Thomas is currently establishing a herd of pedigree beef shorthorn cattle and increasing the size of his sheep flock as well as growing some cereals on his 280-acre farm, Llwyncelyn Lan, Llanfyrnach.  He is also developing a new garage and MOT station in Crymych in conjunction with his previous tenant.

During the 1996 BSE outbreak, Mr Thomas was one of the lead campaigners in South West Wales opposing the importation of inferior beef into Wales.  Having heard a report on the BBC regarding protests at Holyhead harbour he arranged a meeting in Crymych and addressed over 1,500 farmers.

In 1997 he led a group of 10 farmers to Tesco’s stand at the Royal Welsh Show to address them about the unfair way in which they were treating the industry.

Farmers' Union of Wales deputy president Emyr Jones was elected as the union's president during a meeting of its grand council in Aberystwyth today (Friday, June 17).

A former vice president of the union, Mr Jones, 63, was brought up on the family farm, Rhiwaedog, Rhosygwaliau, Bala, which extends to 356 acres and carries 60 suckler cows and 1150 sheep.

Speaking after his election, Mr Jones said: "I am proud to have been chosen to lead the FUW whose principles I strongly believe in and that is why I am a loyal member. In my new role I want to ensure that our hills and valleys are alive with the sound of families going about their business on their farms.

"My dream is that someone from Wales is always there in Brussels fighting on our behalf for our future. I believe in the Welsh farming industry which I have been involved with all my life. I believe we need a strong union because farmers can't ensure their future by themselves."

He was the union's Meirionnydd county chairman from 1998 to 2000 and for many years represented the county branch on the central hill farming and marginal land committee.

He was elected to represent North Wales on the union's central finance and organisation committee in June 2000, a vice president in June 2002 and deputy president in 2003.

He is a prominent member of a number of organisations including the Welsh Mountain Sheep Society, the Welsh Black Cattle Society, and is a director of the Meirionnydd County Show.

He is also a former chairman of Meirionnydd Grassland Society.

His contribution to agriculture was recognised in 1995 when he became an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies and received the honour of Fellow in 2001.

His family farm has won several prizes over the years including the British Grassland Society's national grassland management competition in 2008, the Royal Welsh Show Farm Buildings and Facilities Award and the Snowdonia National Park Society Farming and Landscape Award.

The family has hosted several farm visits over the years by various organisations and societies. Mr Jones also devotes a great deal of time to community life, being a former chairman of the community council.

He is involved with his local show at Llangower and is also a deacon at his local chapel. He is passionately committed to the principles on which the FUW was established.

The new deputy president is Glyn Roberts, Dylasau Uchaf, Padog, Betws-Y-Coed, Conwy, who steps up from vice president.

In 1983 Mr Roberts secured the tenancy of Dylasau Uchaf, a 350-acre farm owned by the National Trust.

Since 2004 he has been one of the union's three vice presidents.

Dei Tomos, a familiar voice and face on BBC Radio Cymru and S4C programmes, was presented with an award by the Farmers' Union of Wales at the union's annual general meeting in Aberystwyth today (Friday, June 17) in recognition of his services to the farming industry.

Presenting him with the union's annual external award, FUW president Gareth Vaughan said: "Dei is highly respected in farming circles for his in-depth knowledge of agriculture and, in the wider community, for his love of the countryside.

"His early morning radio bulletins on Radio Cymru are essential listening for farmers throughout Wales and I'm delighted to present him with this award.

"Dei Tomos makes a valuable contribution every morning on Radio Cymru with the latest agricultural news and issues for those working within the farming industry," added Mr Vaughan.

Dei is currently responsible for the farming news on Radio Cymru every morning (Monday to Friday) as well as the Byd Amaeth programme on Saturday mornings which concerns farming, food production and the countryside. He also has a varied programme on Sunday nights which involves history and traditions, heritage, literature, art, music and the Welsh "pethe".

In the past, he has also presented television programmes about nature and wildlife, countryside and leisure, gardening and food as well as agriculture. In May 2009 he was made an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies in recognition of his contribution to the promotion of agriculture through the media.

Dei was brought up in Waunfawr and Nantperis, and attended Waunfawr School, Caernarfon Grammar School and Bangor Normal College. He spent 12 years working with Urdd Gobaith Cymru as a county organiser in Montgomeryshire and as the deputy head of the Urdd Centre at Glan-llyn.

He has been active in the world of voluntary organisations concerning the Welsh countryside and is now a Welsh committee member of the National Lottery's Heritage Fund.

He has also been national chairman of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales and remains one of the vice presidents of the organisation. He is also the vice president of the Council for National Parks (CNP).

He was appointed for three terms as a member of the Snowdonia National Park Authority by the Secretary of State for Wales and then was a member of the Countryside Council for Wales for 10 years. This was also an appointment made by the Secretary of State for Wales, initially, and subsequently by the Assembly Government.

Locally, he is a former member and chairman of governors at Ysgol Dolbadarn, Llanberis, and is a former community councillor. For some four years now he has been the clerk of the council.