The Farmers’ Union of Wales and FUW Insurance Services Ltd. highlighted and discussed many of the critical issues affecting the agricultural industry through a series of webinars at the virtual Royal Welsh Show.
The variety of webinars ranged from the rural housing crisis, climate change, mental health, digital connectivity and farm safety.
For those who were unable to join them during the show week, they are all available to watch via the members section of the FUW website and the Royal Welsh show events pages.
Rural communities across the UK have been under pressure due to second home ownership and related effects for decades, especially in ‘honeypot’ areas such as National Parks, but the pandemic has accelerated the trend, causing rapid house-price inflation and placing rural houses even further beyond the financial reach of rural and agricultural communities.
The webinar ‘Tackling the rural housing crisis’ is available to watch again here:
Welsh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEa26K5u2sE
English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DW1ZdtIUFw
Addressing concerns around climate change and food production, a panel of experts discussed ‘Producing food and looking after the environment’. This webinar kept the conversation around food production and climate change going, raising awareness amongst consumers and farmers about the issues facing the industry in this context.
The webinar ‘Producing food and looking after the environment’ is available to watch again here:
Welsh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wwNeyv_3FU
English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VROb5uz6zjY
During the virtual show week, which coincided with Farm Safety Week, safety on farms and how farmers can protect themselves and their business was also put under the spotlight at a webinar, hosted by FUW Insurance Services Ltd.
The webinar ‘Protect your business, Protect your family - farm safety under the spotlight’ is available to watch again here: https://royalwelsh.digital/protect-your-business-protect-your-family-farm-safety-under-the-spotlight/
The FUW also stood by its commitment to keep the spotlight on mental health issues for as long as it remains a problem in our rural communities. Approaching the fifth year of awareness raising and doing everything we can to help break the stigma, we asked - how are you doing?
The webinar ‘Mental health- how are you doing’ is available to watch again here:
English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YErpjWRUMIc
Welsh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdlSYThCKlg
Following a survey, run by the National Federation of Women's Institutes-Wales, CLA, Farmers’ Union of Wales, NFU Cymru and Wales YFC, which showed that over 50% of respondents from a rural area felt that the internet they had access to was not fast and reliable, a special digital connectivity event also took place to discuss the findings and the future of digital connectivity for Wales.
The webinar ‘Digital connectivity: Addressing the digital divide between rural and urban areas’ is available to watch again here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUDWSH0ln-w