The Farmers' Union of Wales has welcomed the Welsh Government's commitment to a strong Common Agricultural Policy and recognition of the symbiotic relationship between food production and the environment during a meeting with deputy minister for agriculture Alun Davies.
The meeting, attended by senior FUW officials and staff, was held in response to the minister's commitment at the union's recent annual general meeting to meet with its new FUW president Emyr Jones and deputy president Glyn Roberts.
Mr Jones described the meeting as the first of many useful dialogues between the union and the deputy minister. "In welcoming the deputy minister's statement on the CAP, we emphasised the need for proactive work to be undertaken in order to ensure we get the best deal for Wales," he said.
During the meeting, a broad range of issues relating to the future CAP and the critical decisions which will take place over the coming months were discussed.
"The union emphasised the desperate need for the Welsh Government to drive ahead with modelling work so we know where we currently stand, and where we want to be under the new CAP, given the inevitable move away from the historic single payment model," Mr Jones added.
"Knowledge of such information should be an essential basis for any discussions with Westminster and Brussels over the future of the CAP, and the delay in undertaking such work is regrettable."
During the meeting, the union emphasised its major concerns regarding the Glastir agri-environment scheme and the impact that the possible greening of the CAP might have on the scheme.
"From the outset we have argued that Glastir was rushed in without proper consideration of the impact of the scheme and now the possible mandatory 'greening' of pillar 1 payments could create major problems post-2013 if these measures overlap with Glastir requirements."
The union also highlighted major concerns regarding additional rules relating to the common land element of Glastir which had not been discussed with the industry.
"In their current form these rules are likely to restrict access to the Glastir scheme by Welsh commoners for all but a tiny minority and action must therefore be taken immediately to make access more attractive," said Mr Jones.
"Under its current format the entry level common land Glastir scheme requires compliance with rules which are far more daunting than those which apply to higher level schemes."