Since the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) took control over the Wales Tourist Board there has been less involvement with the farm tourism sector, the Farmers' Union of Wales has told AMs.

Responding to the Assembly's rural development committee inquiry into rural tourism, the union revealed that its members believed that there was less engagement on tourism issues since the merger of the board into the WAG.

"Our farm diversification committee enjoyed a close working relationship with the Wales Tourist Board and was actively involved with consultations on tourism-related strategies," said committee chairman Deilwen Breese. "However many of the existing strategies and action plans have not been reviewed since the merger.

"Farming creates and maintains the landscape which visitors enjoy and also produces the food which can boost their enjoyment of the countryside but the introduction of the Single Investment Fund (SIF) - part of the range of support offered through the WAG's Flexible Support for Business programme - had created a great deal of confusion within the industry.

"Farmers complain of a lack of information and guidance about the fund which they claim is complicated and bureaucratic to apply for, particularly by small businesses," Mrs Breese added.

"Many farm-based rural tourism businesses are usually run as part of the family business which does not necessarily create new jobs but does keep existing family members on the farm. This sort of job security is as important as job creation when weighing up potential grant bids.

"Farm tourism operators fear that priority is being given to promoting facilities around urban areas and while events like the Ryder Cup will attract media attention and public investment, they are not convinced they will benefit from these initiatives.

"The FUW calls for closer involvement with the Assembly Government as a first step in improving support for rural tourism. It also believes that existing strategies need to be revisited and reviewed to ensure that they remain fit for purpose."

The Farmers' Union of Wales has welcomed the launch by Assembly Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones of a consultation on taking forward plans to cull badgers in north Pembrokeshire to control bovine TB.

FUW's bTB spokesman Brian Walters said: "The scientific evidence shows conclusively that badgers are a major source of TB infection in cattle, and trials in both England and Ireland have led to significant drops in the number of cattle slaughtered due to this disease."

Earlier this year a scientific paper on badgers and cattle published in Statistical Communications in Infectious Diseases concluded that "TB in cattle herds could be substantially reduced, possibly even eliminated, in the absence of transmission from badgers to cattle".

"This is exactly the experience in Scotland, an area where there are relatively few badgers and those which do exist are free from bTB," said Mr Walters.

"Normal bTB testing of Scottish cattle has led to a reduction in disease incidences to the point where they have now achieved official bTB free status. In Wales, the same testing is not working because cattle are being constantly re-infected by badgers.

"Today's announcement is an important step towards addressing the epidemic in north Pembrokeshire, which has cost the lives of thousands of cattle in that area alone over the past couple of years, and causes overwhelming suffering and trauma for animals and families."

The announcement comes two months after the Badger Trust put a stop to previous plans to cull badgers in the areas following a case in the Court of Appeal.

"The appeal court ruling came as a major blow and has set disease control in Wales back significantly," Mr Walters said. "It is now important that we move on with a decision which does not fall foul of the legal loopholes taken advantage of by the Badger Trust in the previous court case."

The announcement follows the release of research by the FUW in July which suggested that a badger cull could reduce bTB incidences significantly.

"Our work shows that a badger cull carried out in the same way as during the English trials could reduce bTB incidences by between ten and thirty per cent during a five year culling period, and between twenty-five and thirty-two per cent in the three-and-a-half years after a cull," said Mr Walters.

"If a cull in north Pembrokeshire was carried out in a way that avoided the problems encountered during the English culling trials, these figures could be expected to be considerably higher.

"Ultimately, the best solution would be to vaccinate badgers with an oral vaccine, but we are many years away from having a tried and tested method of doing this.

"Some of those who oppose a cull say that catching and injecting badgers with a vaccine is the practical way forward, but this option was on the table thirty years ago and was laughed out of the room as being costly, impractical, and ineffective. I can't see that anything has changed."

The Farmers' Union of Wales today expressed disappointment at Assembly Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones' decision not to set up a new Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) and committees for Wales.

The union recently contributed to the Minister's request for views on the implications to Wales of Defra's proposals to abolish the current AWB for England and Wales and its committees.

"We are extremely disappointed by her response because the FUW has always supported the AWB and remains concerned that unless there are systems in place to protect payments to agricultural workers, the industry will not attract the highly skilled technicians it needs to thrive," said the union's deputy director of agricultural policy Rhian Nowell-Phillips.

In representations to the Minister the Union highlighted its policy that it still considered the AWB to be the most effective body to determine the pay and conditions of service which reflect the unique requirements of the agricultural industry in Wales.

"As many farms in Wales run with relatively few staff, the AWB is considered an important means of avoiding potential conflict and lengthy negotiations with individual staff," Miss Nowell-Phillips stated.

The FUW strongly believes the AWB's role in setting minimum rates of pay can reflect the need for agricultural workers to be flexible in their working arrangements to cover busy periods, fine weather, and unsocial hours, which are not covered by general employment law provision.

"The Union maintains that the future of the agricultural industry is dependent on attracting highly trained technicians into the industry," Miss Nowell-Phillips added.

"The economic climate within the agricultural industry has made it a less attractive option for young people and, therefore, in the Union's view, rewarding skills, qualifications, and levels of responsibility, is a vital means of persuading high calibre people to remain in or enter the industry.

"Reliance on a single national minimum wage will inevitably result in an erosion of talent and skills from farming as more lucrative and physically less challenging professions are taken up.

"The Union believes that there needs to be arrangements put in place, to deal with enhanced terms and conditions which reflect the dedication of agricultural workers."

But in a reply to the FUW the Minister stated that in reaching her decision she had considered the additional financial costs of establishing a new AWB and committees for Wales.

"Given the ongoing budgetary pressures facing the Welsh Assembly Government, the additional not insignificant costs could simply not be justified," she added.

Commenting on the Minister's response, Miss Nowell-Phillips said: "Whilst it is a disappointing decision we will be looking for some sort of system to be established so that the principles of the AWB are continued."

In a warm personal tribute following the death at 75 of Lord Livsey, Farmers' Union of Wales president Gareth Vaughan today described the Liberal Democrat peer as a "good friend" to agriculture in the House of Lords.

"When we had an issue it was very easy to pick up the phone to Lord Livsey," said Mr Vaughan. "It is so important for us to have people in authority who understand the ways of the countryside.

"That is not the case in many quarters, but that certainly couldn't be said of Lord Livsey, who was well versed in the ways of the agricultural industry.

"Apart from that, he was a very, very popular man and politician, and not just with his own party but across the political spectrum."

Following the death of fellow party stalwart, FUW life member Lord Geraint of Ponterwyd, Lord Livsey took over the hosting of the union's annual "Farmhouse Breakfast Week" function in the Lords and three years ago he received the FUW-Barclays Bank plc award for outstanding service to Welsh agriculture.

It was Richard Livsey's contribution to Welsh agriculture at the former Welsh Agricultural College (WAC) in Aberystwyth which caught the attention of the FUW.

Mr Vaughan said that when Mr Livsey was appointed senior lecturer in farm management and then farm manager at WAC during 1971, there were only 30 or so students at the college studying OND/HND, housed in temporary buildings.

"But when he left the college in 1985, after being elected MP for Brecon and Radnor, there were approximately 300 students there."

The Welsh Assembly Government's head of CAP reform David Morris will be the main speaker at a meeting about the Glastir agri-environment scheme, organised by the Farmers' Union of Wales Meironnydd county branch, to be held at Rhydymain Village Hall, near Dolgellau, on Wednesday evening September 22 at 8pm.

Mr Morris has taken a leading role in introducing the scheme throughout Wales and the meeting will be an opportunity for farmers to finally decide if they wish to enter the scheme this year. Application forms will be sent out early next month to those who have expressed an interest and the closing date for them to be returned is November 22.

Further details about the meeting can be obtained by contacting Meirionnydd FUW County Office at Dolgellau 01341 422298.

South Wales farmers were today warned to be on the alert for three men from the Cardiff area with a pellet gun who claimed to be rabitting when the white transit van they were travelling in was spotted parked on two separate farms in the Neath area recently.

Police inspected the inside of the van - CV05 YPK - at Llwynllanc Farm, Crynant, and nothing was found but it was seen again five days later parked on a neighbouring farm.

"We are anxious to highlight this incident because there have been a lot of farm quad bikes stolen in that area recently," said Farmers' Union of Wales Glamorgan county executive officer Adrian Evans.

"The police are warning farmers that this could be just another scam by giving criminals a degree of legitimacy for being on farmers' land and having a good look around the buildings."

Police also revealed that a notable arrest was made in Aberdulais recently when two Merthyr men were apprehended for going equipped to steal. They were also using a transit van which contained empty diesel drums and siphoning equipment.

On the weekend the white transit van was seen for the second time two more criminal incidents occurred on farms near Neath. A stolen tractor was left crashed into a tree at Gellyfowy Fawr, Ynysmeudwy, Pontardawe, and a steel gate was stolen from Brynchwyth, Tonna.

"If farmers see the white van on their land or any other suspicious vehicles or intruders they should report the sighting to the police via the telephone number 101," Mr Evans added.

Meanwhile, an interesting project to help cut down on rural crime in Carmarthenshire was outlined at a meeting of the FUW's county executive meeting when Dyfed Powys Police crime reduction coordinator Brian Jones gave details of a pilot scheme being launched in the county.

The Online Watch Link (OWL) is a two-way initiative that would allow the police to pass relevant messages to the community and encourage the community to respond to the messages. The message could be of a crime prevention nature or to let the recipient know of a notable incident.

OWL is free and the message could be received via the home phone, a mobile phone, text message or, alternatively, via e-mail to the home or place of work.

For further details contact Brian Jones at Ammanford police station - Tel: 101/ext 27465, E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call FUW county executive officer Meinir Bartlett - Tel: 01267 237974.