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FUW Denbigh chairman John Roberts and FUW Denbigh president Iwan Jones with HCC's Industry and Market Information Officer John Richards, Owain Bebb a’i gwmni accountant Rhys Harris, Eifion Bibby of Davis Meade and Director of Padog Farms Ltd Dafydd Wynne Finch.[/caption]
Denbighshire members of the Farmers’ Union of Wales came together at a recent annual general meeting to discuss EU membership, young entrants and the Finance Act 2015.
The event, which was held at the Brookhouse Mill on Monday November 9, welcomed Director of Padog Farms Ltd Dafydd Wynne Finch, Owain Bebb a’i gwmni accountant Rhys Harris, Eifion Bibby of Davis Meade and HCC's Industry and Market Information Officer John Richards as their guest speakers.
“Despite the poor weather many of our members attended and held interesting and varied discussion. It was nice to hear plenty of questions being asked by members, which ranged from are we better in or out of EU to a question about how do we get young farmers back into the industry,” said FUW Denbigh and Flintshire county executive officer Mari Dafydd Jones.
EU membership is a topic the FUW is quite clear on, having long recognised the value of remaining a part of one of the largest common markets and trading blocks in the world, and the irreparable damage caused to farm and food businesses as a result of our exclusion from the EU market during the BSE and Foot and Mouth disease crises stand as testament to the dangers of being locked out of Europe.
“We know that there are plenty of young enthusiastic people who wish to enter the industry and we also know that there are those looking at the future of their farms who don’t necessarily want to relinquish everything, so it was good to discuss succession with our members in an open format,” she added.
Mr Finch focused his presentation on how important discussion groups are in developing the industry through upskilling people and sharing information and he also discussed the topic of succession. Lamb prices and HCC marketing strategies and Europe were discussed by John Richards; Mr Harris gave a presentation on the Finance Act 2015 and discussed 10 main points including changes to capital allowances and averaging profits and Mr Bibby talked about buying and renting land, the Renting Homes (Wales) bill and the trading of entitlements.
“I would like to thank the speakers and members for attending a very successful evening and hope they all enjoyed the evening as much as I did. It was nice to see new members attending and we hope to see them again soon,” added Mari.