The Farmers’ Union of Wales is looking forward to welcome First Minister Carwyn Jones as the keynote speaker at its annual general meeting, which is taking place on Monday, June 18, at the William Davies Suite, IBERS in Aberystwyth.

The event is due to start at 1.30pm with a warm welcome from FUW President Glyn Roberts, which will be followed by a question and answer session on Brexit and #FarmingMatters.

Speaking ahead of the AGM, Glyn Roberts said: “We look forward to welcoming the First Minister to our AGM, which is likely to be his last engagement with the FUW in his current role.

“It promises to be a great afternoon of farming matters discussions, with a strong focus on agriculture in Wales post-Brexit, as well as #FairFarmFunding and I hope to see many of you there.

“And as is tradition we will also be revealing the winners of the FUW Owen Slaymaker Award, FUW New Members Award, and the FUW Long Service Award, in addition to a variety of FUW Insurance Services awards. " 

The Anglesey branch of the Farmers’ Union of Wales is looking forward to welcoming members to its annual general meeting on Friday June 1, which is being held at the Mona Showground Pavilion, and will start at 7.30pm.

Confirmed guest speakers on the night are Anglesey MP Albert Owen and FUW Deputy President Brian Thomas.

Euros Jones, FUW Anglesey CEO, said: “Our AGM is going to offer members much food for thought as we discuss agriculture and Brexit with our two keynote speakers.

“These are uncertain times for our industry and I am looking forward to explore the topic further on the night. It promises to be a great evening and I hope many of you can join us.”

Members are also invited to join the FUW for a cheese and wine reception from 4pm at the Llangefni office to meet their new County Executive Officers.

Speaking ahead of the event, FUW Anglesey CEO Alaw Jones said: “I am really excited to meet many more of our members here at the Llangefni office and hope they can join us for cheese and wine and many #FarmingMatters chats.”

Those wishing to attend the wine and cheese reception and annual general meeting should contact the Llangefni office on 01248750250.

FUW Meirionnydd administration assistant Louisa Moore is taking on a personal challenge on June 10 to raise money for the FUW’s charities - Alzheimer’s Society Cymru and The Farming Community Network (FCN) - swimming a mile in Lake Windermere, as part of the Great North Swim.

Louisa has set herself two targets - to raise £500 for Alzheimer’s Society Cymru and the Farming Community Network and to complete the course in under an hour.

She said: “I’m not an elite swimmer by any means, I completed the mile course in 2016 in 1 hour and 15 seconds and the target this year is to beat that.

“I’ve managed to complete a mile in 40 minutes in the pool during training, but we all know that open water is a completely different scenario!”

A 9th generation farming family from Glamorgan have highlighted why farming matters when they welcomed Ogmore MP Chris Elmore to their farm.

Gill and Charles Morgan and their son Richard run Gellifeddgaer farm, just outside of Blackmill, Bridgend, which comprises approximately 330 acres with a further 50 acres rented.

The farm is adjacent to Mynydd-y-Gaer Common (approx. 1,000 acres) and they have common rights on the upper and lower section of Coity Wallia Common which extends to approximately 2,000 acres.   

At present the family run 900 ewes, which have now lambed, together with 40 calves which were purchased with the purpose of rearing until 16-18 months.

The farm has been in the family since the early 1700’s, firstly as a tenanted farm, but then in the mid- 1960’s  it was purchased from the Winfield Estate and has been in family ownership ever since.

Gellifeddgaer has been enrolled in environmental schemes for almost 30 years, commencing with Habitat then Tir Gofal and presently Glastir Advanced.

Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Keir Starmer has heard why #FairFarmFunding and clarity of future trade deals is crucial for the survival of rural Wales and its farming communities, when he visited a beef and sheep farm in Glamorgan.

Opening the gates to Flaxland farm to show the Brexit Shadow Secretary why Wales and its rural communities need to keep the same amount of funding as it currently receives and why farmers are so worried about their export market, were FUW Glamorgan County Chairman Richard Walker and his partner Rachel Edwards.

The couple run the 120 acre holding just outside of Barry, and look after 120 breeding ewes, 3 rams, 40 lambs from last year, 150 lambs from this year and 100 cattle (consisting of 37 breeding 60 young stock).

The Farmers’ Union of Wales has welcomed a ruling by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) which bans an advert by vegan pressure group ‘Viva!’ on the grounds that it misled consumers.

The advert wrongly claimed that constituents of cows’ milk could be linked to cancer. However the ASA ruled that this claim could not be substantiated with scientific evidence.  The advert was placed upon buses in Bristol last September.

Dr Hazel Wright, FUW Senior Policy Officer, said: “Dairy products are known to be a nutritional and beneficial component of a healthy diet.   Unfortunately, despite high welfare, environmental and hygiene standards, the dairy sector has frustratingly been subjected to unsubstantiated and detrimental claims by a vegan pressure group.

“FUW dairy farmers will no doubt be pleased by the ASA ruling and we welcome moves which continue to weed out false and misleading claims against our industry,” added Dr Wright.

Alongside a ban on the current advert, the ASA ruling prohibits Viva! from making similar claims in the future.