Farmers' Union of Wales president Emyr Jones today described Welsh Government figures showing that total income from farming rose by over 30 per cent last year as "great news".

Mr Jones said: “Against the backdrop of the very low incomes seen over most of the last decade, it is great news that the rewards for so much hard work, and producing food which is second to none, have grown.

“It should give confidence to the industry as a whole, and particularly our young people, that their passion, skills and hard work can bring rewards.

"It also highlights the importance of having a Government which supports agriculture and recognises the major part agriculture has to play in Wales’ economy in terms of directly supporting the wider community and providing primary produce for the food supply and processing chains.

"The multiplier effect of every pound generated by Welsh agriculture is immense."

But Mr Jones also warned: “As with any industry, there are always concerns about what might be just around the corner, whether in the form of emerging diseases such as the Schmallenberg virus, the Euro exchange rate or the impact of CAP reform.

"There is always room for improvement and more work to be done, but that should not be allowed to overshadow this positive news.”

The Welsh Government statistics revealed total income from farming rose by 31 per cent to £209.5 million in 2011. They also show the value of agricultural output produced in Wales in 2011 was approximately £1,393 million, an increase of 12 per cent on 2010, which generated a 25 per cent increase in Gross Value Added (GVA) from agriculture.

The rises are attributed to greater output and higher market prices as well as the effect of the exchange rate on the value of Single Payment Scheme (SPS) payments to farmers.

[caption id="attachment_3556" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Yves Madre - left - welcomes Glyn Roberts to the EU Commission offices in Brussels.[/caption]

Farmers' Union of Wales deputy president Glyn Roberts has attended a meeting with two cabinet members of EC agriculture and rural development commissioner Dacian Ciolo?' for Common Agricultural Policy reform talks during a recent visit to Brussels.

At the meeting, Mr Roberts, of Dylasau Uchaf, Padog, Betws y Coed, underlined the union's concerns over a number of issues - including the need for a realistic transition period and the union's own model for entitlements, greening and new entrants - with Yves Madre and Welshman Gwilym Jones.

"It was a very positive meeting where a range of detailed issues were debated. The Commission are currently in 'listening' mode on the CAP reform proposals and we used the opportunity to highlight the need for flexibility within the regulations to minimise the impacts the reforms will have on farmers in Wales," said Mr Roberts.

The Farmers' Union of Wales today welcomed an official assurance that the Welsh Government's farm liaison officers can continue to attend evening meetings with farmers and that any changes to the service will be in addition to, and not instead of, present arrangements.

The union's concern that liaison officers were not allowed to work in the evenings were raised with deputy agriculture minister Alun Davies by North Wales AM Llyr Gruffydd during a recent Senedd debate on regulation in the agricultural industry.

"Due to farmers' working practices evening meetings provide the best opportunity for liaison officers to get their message across to the industry," said FUW president Emyr Jones.

"But when these officers, who provide such a vital service to the industry, are stopped from attending it causes practical problems for farmers wishing to obtain their advice."

Responding to Mr Gruffydd's enquiry, Mr Davies said senior officials within his department had not given instructions that staff in the Farm Liaison Service (FLS) must not conduct evening meetings.

"The service recognises that the working practices of farmers in Wales, the farming unions and agents are such that for many evening meetings provide the most convenient solution.

"It is fair to say that the FLS has not been able over recent months to undertake quite as many evening meetings as it has in the past due to competing priorities - most notably in respect of the comprehensive support arrangements the Welsh Government has put in place for farmers considering joining Glastir."

On future FLS plans, Mr Davies said Gareth Williams' recently-published Working Smarter report on red tape in the industry concluded the FLS provides an excellent service and the team should be significantly increased in size.

"I will be looking at new and different ways of delivering this excellent service in the future and will make a statement on any changes that I make. However, I would like to confirm that any enhancements to the service will be in addition to, and not instead of, present arrangements."

Mr Jones said: "The FUW welcomes Mr Davies' response on this issue and the commitment to maintaining and enhancing the Farm Liaison Service in the future."

Farmers were today being urged to consider claiming or applying for Farming Connect subsidised services following recent changes to the scheme's claims rules.

At a Farmers' Union of Wales agricultural education and training committee meeting, delegates were reminded that in order to reduce bureaucracy Farming Connect has removed the six-month deadline rule for submission of claims for subsidised services, which applies to all approvals processed since July 2008.

"This is an excellent opportunity for farmers to make use of the services offered by Farming Connect," said the committee's chairman Alun Edwards.

"There are a range of subsidised services available which will run until 2013 and I would strongly urge farmers to take advantage of the scheme before the end of the current programme.

"The six-month deadline rule was abolished from 7 November 2011, and any customers who have either had claims rejected, or have not submitted a claim at all, will be contacted and invited to re-claim if eligible.

"Farmers are now eligible to claim funding for any of the Farming Connect subsidised services, regardless of whether they have received mentoring, advice or attended a course and paid in full but did not claim the funding within the six months, or they have received a rejection letter for having claimed funding outside the six month window."

The scheme will close to new applications for subsidised support at the end of September 2013, which will give six months for work to be completed and final claims to be submitted before the end of the current Rural Development period.

[caption id="attachment_3547" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Farmer Huw Jones - left - explains the shortcomings to Emyr Jones and Jill Evans.[/caption]

Farmers' Union of Wales members and officials have highlighted the major shortcomings of sheep EID to Wales MEP Jill Evans during a visit to a Caernarfonshire farm. 

At Gwern Farm, Saron, near Llanwnda, Ms Evans heard how farmer Huw Jones and his family worked hard to make EID technology work as one of 14 Welsh EID trial farms but still experienced major problems. 

"Using the technology and having to record and report each and every movement represents a great deal of extra work and costs, and we are finding a significant number of the tags are not being picked up by scanners," said Mr Jones. 

"That means us having to go through sheep individually, read the tags manually and then write the numbers down. Doing that in horizontal rain and freezing cold weather means a great deal of extra work and a far higher risk of human error. 

"It is extremely frustrating when you have bent over backwards to get the technology to work but are still finding major problems which could lead to financial penalties. 

"It feels sometimes as if the system has been set up just in order to make it impossible for sheep farmers to avoid fines. 

"We are also experiencing numerous tag losses due to the requirement for double fencing imposed by various environmental schemes. How on earth can we be expected to achieve 100 per cent EID accuracy under such conditions?" 

FUW president Emyr Jones, who recently met EC officials to discuss the huge problems associated with compulsory sheep EID, said: "The experience of Welsh farmers since the compulsory introduction of EID in 2010 confirms everything that we warned the EC about over the previous decade and there is a desperate need for acceptance by the EC of the shortcomings of the technology. 

"Disappointingly, the Welsh Government has now confirmed that it will not allow tolerances for tag read-rates, which means a higher risk of farmers being fined as a result of technological failures that are beyond their control.

"The legal requirement for farmers is 100 per cent EID accuracy but everyone accepts that EID technology cannot deliver 100 per cent accuracy. Something desperately needs to be done to change a situation which I believe is completely immoral."

Ms Evans said: "It gives me no satisfaction to see that all the problems we predicted with EID have occurred in practise. It is simply unworkable. Farmers have made every effort to comply with the law but the fact is that it is impossible to tag and account for every single sheep in a flock.

"The electronic equipment available is not yet able to deliver a 100% reliable result and I have seen how easy it is for tags to get lost. Yet unless they comply 100% farmers will be penalised and this is unacceptable."

The FUW has branded European Commission proposals which would restrict Welsh arable farming as 'bad for farming, bad for food, and bad for the environment' following a meeting of its arable, horticulture and cropping committee.

Under the EC proposals, Welsh farmers with more than three hectares of arable land would be required to plant at least three crops, irrespective of whether those crops are suited to their land or businesses, with no one crop taking up less that 5 and more than 70 percent of the land.

Newly elected committee chairman Maelgwyn Davies, who farms around 65-70 acres of barley, wheat and maize for cattle feed, said: "The proposals take no account of the fact that on large numbers of Welsh farms growing three crops would be impractical, uneconomic and bad for the environment.

"It would mean farmers in Wales becoming less able to grow crops for their own use, thereby undermining farm self sufficiency, as well as restricting our ability to respond to market prices and demands.

"The draft regulation does not properly recognise the priority of ensuring food security, which has been identified by the Commission as a priority. In fact, it would undermine food security at a time when it is acknowledged that global food shortages are inevitable.

"The idea of farmers with more than three hectares of arable land having to grow at least three different crops, with no one crop being grown on less than 5 percent and more than 70 percent of the land is completely unrealistic for large numbers of Welsh farms due to our climate and topography.

Mr Davies said the proposals would also have a negative impact on the environment.

"The growing of arable crops is encouraged under agri-environmental schemes and by wildlife organisations, because they add to the diversity of food sources which are available for wildlife. These proposals would push many mixed farms away from undertaking mixed farming, thereby having a detrimental impact on the environment.

"Not only would this be damaging to local environments -- it would also have a broader impact on the global environment in terms of our carbon footprint, since it would reduce our ability to grow crops locally for our own use, leading to more feed being imported from countries which have poor environmental track records."