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.

Farmers' Union of Wales president Gareth Vaughan - who retires today (Friday June 17) after eight years in the post - received the union's annual internal award for his services to the agricultural industry during the organisation's annual general meeting in Aberystwyth.

Mr Vaughan was elected North Wales member of the FUW's national finance and organisation committee in 1998 before being elected vice president in 2000, deputy president in June 2002 and president in June 2003.

His term in office has seen two outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, a devastating rise in bovine tuberculosis and a slump in farm incomes.

Paying tribute to him, FUW deputy president Emyr Jones said: "Gareth has been a towering presence within the FUW. He has represented us with great dignity and forcefulness during private meetings with Government Ministers and officials and at public engagements throughout Wales.

"He is a true champion of farming and a true champion of the FUW," added Mr Jones.

About his term in office, Mr Vaughan said many of the problems of the past eight years will remain on the agenda of the farming world.

"No-one could have predicted that we would live through two spells of foot-and-mouth and so many other animal health issues including the arrival of Bluetongue for the first time.

"Bovine TB was not really talked about eight years ago but now it's a serious problem in some parts of Wales."

Mr Vaughan runs a traditional beef and sheep unit at Cwmyrhiwdre Farm, Dolfor, near Newtown, in partnership with his wife of over 40 years, Audrey, and 13 years ago his daughter Catherine and son-in-law Brian joined the business.

Speaking about his retirement as president, Mr Vaughan said: "I will be getting my hands a bit dirty again and I've always enjoyed training sheepdogs and shooting so I'll be doing more of that.

"All my family are on the farm with me and we are very fortunate that we see our grandchildren every day," he added.

Born in Llanidloes in 1941, Mr Vaughan attended Manledd Primary and Llanidloes High Schools. He was chairman of the union's Newtown branch in 1988-89, Montgomeryshire county chairman from 1991-93 and has also represented the county on the union's grand council and land use and parliamentary committee, the British Wool Marketing Board, the Meat and Livestock Commission liaison committee and the Agricultural Dwellinghouse Committee.

Mr Vaughan was awarded the MBE in the 2011 New Year Honours List for services to agriculture and stated he was proud to accept the honour on behalf of all staff within the union who carry out such dedicated work.

He added that he owed a great deal to Llangurig YFC, which he joined after leaving school at 15, and the FUW, both of which "have been there for me" after "wasting so much of my school days".

An aggressive army of EU auditors incapable of understanding commonsense is undermining farmers' efforts by imposing draconian fines for red tape mistakes, retiring Farmers' Union of Wales president Gareth Vaughan said today.

He told the union's annual general meeting in Aberystwyth that confidence remained high within the industry in spite of numerous broken promises by politicians over plans to slash red tape and bureaucracy.

"Despite ongoing concerns over the age profile of our farming population, the enthusiasm of our young and upcoming farmers is something which continues to fill me with confidence about our future.

"However, as I think back to how our industry was almost a decade ago, and re-read some of the assurances given to us over the years, it seems that this confidence exists in spite of a host of broken promises.

"Foremost amongst these are the regular assurances by those who govern us over cuts to red tape and bureaucracy, and the broken promises which have followed, with Brussels standing out as a clear winner in the race to go back on their word."

Mr Vaughan said that in January 2007 the European Commission presented its Action Programme for Reducing Administrative Burdens in the EU which, it claimed, showed "the way in which the Commission intends to work with Member States to cut administrative burdens on businesses by a quarter by 2012".

"But in the four and a half years since then, bureaucracy for farm businesses has escalated dramatically, coupled with draconian fines for those who make inadvertent and inconsequential mistakes," Mr Vaughan added.

"These fines are often implemented at the behest of an aggressive army of EU auditors which is seemingly incapable of understanding commonsense or proportionality.

"With just six months in which to 'cut administrative burdens on businesses by a quarter' and more EU red tape in the pipeline, it is clear that this statement represents just another broken promise.

"Yet for my successor there may be some light on the horizon because the Lisbon Treaty now means that our elected representatives are answerable for such failings.

"It is down to us - not just as a Union but also as individual farmers - to hold them accountable for their actions or inactions."

The Farmers' Union of Wales today welcomed the news that Bluetongue restrictions on the export of sheep and cattle from Great Britain are to be lifted next month.

"We are very pleased to learn that these restrictions, which have been in place since the 2007 Bluetongue outbreak, will be lifted on July 5," said FUW president Gareth Vaughan.

"I understand the last confirmed case of Bluetongue in GB was in 2008 and the results of surveillance carried out in November 2010 show there is no evidence of Bluetongue virus circulation in GB. All samples were negative for all BTV serotypes.

"This is a very positive outcome for Welsh farming but, naturally, everyone involved with the industry must continue to be mindful of the effects of this highly infectious disease and do all they can to make sure it does not return to our shores," Mr Vaughan added.