New full-time students are being invited to write a 1,000-word essay on one of three topics about the future of Welsh farming suggested by the Farmers' Union of Wales which launches its annual £1,000 bursary on its stand at the Urdd National Eisteddfod tomorrow (Wednesday June 2).

The topics are:

* What challenges will climate change create for farming and food production in Wales over the next 50 years?

* What should the Welsh farming industry and government do to attract more young people into agriculture?

* How would you give the Welsh farming industry a facelift to attract more support and loyalty from the general public?

Last year the adjudicators decided to award £700 to the bursary winner, 19-year-old Harper Adams University College student Iestyn Russell.

Iestyn, of Cwmann, near Lampeter, Carmarthenshire, received his award from FUW president Gareth Vaughan on the union's stand at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair last December.

Iestyn, an enthusiastic member of Cwmann YFC and last year's Wales YFC best junior stockman, also worked on the family's dairy and sheep farm at Cwmann and on a neighbouring beef and sheep farm before deciding to go to university to study for a degree in rural enterprise and land management. "But my dream of farming is still as real as ever," he said.

Runner-up to Iestyn was 19-year-old David Evans, of Groeswen Farm House, Groeswen, Cardiff, who is studying for an agriculture BSc degree at Aberystwyth University. He received £200.

Third was 22-year-old Manod Williams, of Tregerddan, Bow Street, near Aberystwyth, who is also studying for BSc in agriculture with animal science at Aberystwyth. He received £100.

Full details on how to apply for the bursary are included in a leaflet available from the FUW's head office in Aberystwyth or at any of the union's local branch offices as well as on the FUW stand at the Eisteddfod.

The closing date for applications is October 1, 2010.

The Farmers' Union of Wales will be promoting Welsh food and farming during its biggest ever presence at the annual Urdd National Eisteddfod next week (May 31-June 5).

This year's venue - the National Trust's property at Llanerchaeron, near Aberaeron - is a rare example of a self-sufficient 18th-century Welsh farm estate which has survived virtually unaltered.

In a unique link-up with the National Trust, the FUW's new mobile display unit will be located on the Home Farm complex which has an impressive range of traditional, atmospheric outbuildings and is a working organic farm with Welsh Black cattle, Llanwenog sheep and rare Welsh pigs.

The union will also have its traditional stand on the Maes and members are welcome to pop in for a cuppa and a Welsh cake while Ceredigion YFC Federation will be holding various events there throughout the week including, on the opening day, setting a challenge for Wales YFC chairman Tim John to have his legs "waxed" and raise funds for the Kidney Wales Foundation.

A food and farm trail quiz-sheet has been compiled with all the answers available on a gentle stroll from the FUW stand on the Maes to the mobile unit via Llanerchaeron's walled gardens and farmyard.

A hamper of local food and drink will be the main prize for the quiz and a Llanerchaeron meat voucher and piggy banks will be the prizes for the lucky winners of a "guess the weight of three little pigs" competition.

Activities alongside the mobile unit begin on Tuesday with a bee-keeping demonstration by FUW's former Cardiganshire county executive officer Lewis Griffith who will repeat the demonstration on Thursday.

Also on Tuesday popular characters from S4C's Ceredigion-based children's programme Pentre Bach will be available to sign autographs and pose for photographs on the FUW stand between 11am and noon.

On the Wednesday and Thursday there will be intriguing displays at the mobile unit of the work of two Talgarreg rural craft exponents - Grug Jones, who makes unusual and artistic willow sculptures, and retired farmer Lloyd Jones, who has a fascinating collection of rope knots.

Meanwhile, the National Trust will also hold a series of events and talks at the farm complex throughout the week including regular shearing displays of local Llanwenog sheep plus an exhibition of various breeds of poultry.

There will also be an opportunity to visit the unique Geler Jones collection of farm machinery, carts, and rural artefacts housed in a purpose-built shed near the FUW mobile unit.

"The FUW is delighted to work with the National Trust to give visitors to the eisteddfod the chance to discover how a working farm produced enough food to make the estate self-sufficient," said the union's Ceredigion county executive officer Owen Jenkins.

"We sincerely hope that the young and not-so-young visitors will remember what both organisations are attempting to do - educate the public to appreciate that food security is one of today's major worldwide issues."

The Farmers' Union of Wales today warned farmers to double check their Single Application Form (SAF) acknowledgment slips after a series of computer scanning errors had been discovered.

"SAF scanning errors have been discovered by a number of our county executive offices across Wales and had these gone unnoticed our members could have lost significant sums of money," said FUW's Carmarthenshire county executive officer Meinir Bartlett.

"We are particularly concerned at the sheer number of errors that we have noticed on acknowledgement slips sent out by the Assembly Government to our members. Thankfully our staff and members have spotted these by cross-checking them against photocopies of their original SAF forms"

One discrepancy involving a Carmarthenshire FUW member showed a 5.28ha field scanned as 1.00ha, and out of a total of 74 field entries in the county, there were 12 scanning errors.

The breakdown of errors is: crosses declaring the intention to claim Single Payment on four fields not scanned; cross declaring the intention to claim Tir Mynydd on one field not scanned; details of field "statuses" not scanned on five occasions; and declaration of an intention to claim Glastir not scanned on two occasions.

"Had these errors by the Welsh Assembly Government not been picked up, they could have led to significant losses for the businesses concerned," said Mrs Bartlett.

"Every year the FUW deals with members who have lost significant sums of money due to minor errors on extremely complicated forms and some end up losing sums that are equivalent to their entire annual incomes.

"Very few of those people get their money back due to the strict enforcement of EU rules relating to obvious errors and exceptional circumstances.

"We fully appreciate that such errors are a part and parcel of normal life and that no system is infallible. But when it comes to farmers making equivalent errors, they have the book thrown at them and can be fined like criminals, even for placing a single tick in the wrong box.

"For those who have lost thousands of pounds and had the viability of their businesses put on the line due to errors that everyone - including officials - agrees were accidental, this will smack of one rule for them and one rule for us.

"But the bottom line is that this is firm evidence of the need to treat errors as errors, and allow them to be corrected without fining people, no matter whether the errors are made by farmers or the Welsh Assembly Government."

The Farmers' Union of Wales' Pembrokeshire branch is keen to highlight the achievements of younger farmers in the county so it has extended the period for nominations for its annual Countryside Award.

To be eligible for the award the nominee must be 40 years of age or under on January 1, 2010; actively involved in agricultural production or land management; and normally resident within Pembrokeshire.

A cash prize, perpetual trophy and a year's free FUW membership will be awarded.

Further details and nomination forms can be obtained by telephoning the Pembrokeshire FUW Office on 01437 762913. All nominations must now be submitted by Friday 4 June 2010.

Last year the award was won by a young farmer who achieved a 20-year ambition to run his own dairy farm when his local council offered him a holding.

Thirty-three-year-old Julian Nicholas, of Lower Coxhill Farm, Narberth, who has worked in agriculture all his life, was presented with the award plus £100 and a year's free FUW membership during last August's Pembrokeshire County Show.

Inviting nominations for this year's award, FUW Pembrokeshire county chairman Dai Miles said: "If the agricultural industry is to have a future in Pembrokeshire it is vital that we not only encourage new entrants into the industry, but that we also acknowledge the hard work of existing younger farmers and nurture them."

TWO Aberystwyth University students from Glamorganshire currently studying agriculture - David Evans from Caerphilly and Rachel Barrett of Pontllanfraith - have each received £100 study grants from the Farmers' Union of Wales Walter Rowlands Memorial Fund.

Mr Rowlands was the FUW's first county executive officer in Glamorganshire. He served the union from 1956 to 1985 when he passed away prematurely.

To recognise his contribution to the union, the Walter Rowlands Memorial Fund grants an annual award of £100 to students, living within the old Glamorgan county boundary, who have been accepted for an agricultural course. The award is a contribution towards the cost of books and equipment.

David Evans lives at Groeswen Farm, Groeswen, near Caerphilly, which was established by his grandfather. In 2006, he completed a BTEC 1st Diploma (Distinction) at Pencoed Agricultural College and then continued his studies at Coleg Gelli Aur, achieving a triple distinction in a National Diploma in Agriculture. He also received the Ben Evans Award for Student of the Year in 2009.

As a self-financing student he spent every weekend and holiday gaining practical experience on a neighbour's hill farm near Caerphilly. He passed his Blue Certificate for shearing and bought his own equipment to work alongside other experienced farmers.

His spare time is spent training his two sheep dogs, improving his riding skills or designing equipment that would reduce the time and workload of routine tasks around the farm. He is currently studying for a BSc (Hons) Degree in Agriculture at Aberystwyth.

Rachel Barrett, of Heath Road, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood, does not have a farming background but she loves working with animals and has great interest in environmental issues.

She initially believed that she wanted to be a veterinary surgeon but since starting her course in Aberystwyth it has opened her mind to the many opportunities she can follow including working with Defra or in habitat ecology. She would like to have her own smallholding one day and be as self sufficient as possible.

She is currently studying a Foundation (FdSc) Agriculture course at Aberystwyth University and her hobbies include being a member of the St John Ambulance Brigade with whom she has many qualifications within different areas.

She enjoys learning sign language and has helped raise funds for the St David's Foundation. She is also a member of the University Mountaineering and ballroom dancing clubs.

FUW Glamorganshire county executive officer Adrian Evans said: "The judging panel was unanimous in agreeing that they were both very deserving of the award and decided to make two awards for the first in the fund's long history."

Applications for the 2011 Walter Rowlands Memorial Award should be sent to FUW's Glamorganshire County Office, 58 Eastgate, Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, CF71 7AB, by 30 November 2010. For further details call 01446 774838.

THE future of the family farm must be a major priority of a new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), Farmers' Union of Wales president Gareth Vaughan told AMs at the National Assembly today.

Presenting the union's evidence to the Assembly rural development sub-committee's inquiry into reform of the CAP, he said: "I would like to thank you for holding this inquiry into one of the most important issues facing the agricultural industry in Wales over the coming years.

"However, I believe that our evidence shows that the future of the CAP is not just of importance to Welsh agriculture but also to our wider communities - to the very backbone of our rural economy and to every Welsh citizen."

In 2005, the Treasury and Defra published "A Vision for the Common Agricultural Policy", setting out the UK Government''s vision for EU agricultural policy to 2020.

The key policy reforms proposed included: alignment of import tariffs for all agricultural sectors with other sectors of the economy; abolition of production subsidies; abolition of price and direct income support measures; and abolition of export subsidies.

Following publication of the policy, the UK Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) was commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government and other administrations to analyse the impact of these key reform proposals on agriculture in Wales and the other devolved regions. The results, published in July 2009, revealed significant adverse impacts for Welsh agriculture and rural communities.

"To look at the possible worst case outcome of CAP reform for Wales we need look no further than the policies of the previous UK Government and the impact of these as predicted by FAPRI," said Mr Vaughan.

"Their work concludes that scaling down agricultural support and opening up our markets will have dramatic consequences for Welsh agriculture, rural employment and our rural communities.

"Such a watering down of the CAP would also mean abandoning our food security and deconstructing a framework which would otherwise be instrumental in tackling the key challenges of our age - namely, mitigating climate change without undermining food production.

"The FUW believes that to address these issues we need a robust CAP which is funded at a level that reflects the importance of these challenges and above all has the future of the family farm at its core," Mr Vaughan added.