The Glamorgan team of the Farmers’ Union of Wales enjoyed a successful Vale Show, including many chats about #farmingmatters with politicians and members, a special raffle for the FUW President’s charity - The DPJ Foundation, and a hunt for hand painted FUW rocks around the showground.
FUW Glamorgan CEO Rachel Saunders said: “We had a fantastic show again this year and it was great to catch up with so many members and of course our elected politicians. The raffle was a total success and the children had great fun searching for our hand painted rocks across the showground.
“And whilst we enjoyed the lighter side of being at the show and sharing thoughts over cups of tea, talking to our members really drove home the issues that they are most concerned about such as the future of farming in Wales, NVZ’s, bovine TB, the closure of Cowbridge mart and of course Brexit.
“We used the opportunity to raise some of those concerns with Jane Hutt AM, Belinda Loveluck-Edwards (Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan), David Melding AM and Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns as they joined us for #farmingmatters chats here at the show.
“Our members are worried that the closure of Cowbridge Livestock mart will be the end of market trading in the town, something which will cost our local farmers, already under pressure because of uncertainty over red meat sales post Brexit and we stressed that point again.
“I can assure our members that we will continue to lobby our politicians on all those issues to ensure that we have thriving sustainable family farms here in Wales for generations to come.”
FUW Vice President Ian Rickman, who runs an upland sheep farm near Llandeilo, added: “We made it quite clear that the consequences for Wales' economy of a no-deal Brexit are such that no responsible Government would allow the UK to leave without a deal, and nor would any responsible Parliament agree to this.
“If we are to leave without a deal, the emergency no-deal planning needs to be stepped up - we understand that this is to happen but this in itself highlights the extreme dangers our economy is now facing.
“And of course, Brexit is only one aspect that has our members worried. Bovine TB and the incoming NVZ regulations and the changes to farm support are also already having serious impacts on farmers mental health and the wider economic consequences are being felt as added pressure.
“And whilst our Government can’t fix all of the problems farmers in Wales have, there are things within their control and we urged them again to do the right thing - for Wales, our industry and the people of Wales.”