Tesco’s latest tendering process for liquid milk could see a 200m litre shift in liquid milk procurement away from Arla.

If confirmed, this change could further expose non-aligned producers to price falls if Arla was left to process the excess milk through the plant at Westbury.

Although no confirmation has been received by either Tesco or Arla, the FUW would urge Tesco to ensure that its liquid milk procurement process does not function to further depress the prices received by non-aligned producers.

The Union would also urge Tesco to bring clarity to this issue in order to allow dairy farmers time to assess their options.

Speculation over Tesco milk sourcing follows the announcement that this major retailer had breached the Groceries Code by making widespread delays and deductions to suppliers’ payments.

Following confirmation of the breach, the Groceries Code Adjudicator, Ms Christine Tacon, ordered Tesco to correct pricing errors within 7 days of notification and to cease the practise of making unilateral price deductions to suppliers’ payments.

However, the FUW was extremely disappointed to note that the large retailer would not be in receipt of a fine because the government failed to state the fine limit that could be imposed by the Groceries Code Adjudicator within the time frame of the Tesco investigation.

FUW Milk and Dairy Produce Committee Chairman, Rhydian Owen, said: “The FUW repeatedly called for the government to activate the Adjudicator’s power to fine in order to bring retailers exhibiting unfair practises to account and it is therefore infuriating that such powers were not allocated in time to see those breaches by Tesco properly penalised.

“The current speculation regarding Tesco’s liquid milk procurement further strengthens the FUW’s call for all dairy farmers to be included in the remit of the Groceries Code Adjudicator.

“At present, retailer aligned contracts only account for about four percent of the milk produced in Wales.”

The Serious Fraud Office is also currently investigating Tesco and the FUW will provide further information on the results of this investigation when it becomes available.

Proposed cuts to National Park funding in Wales should prompt discussions on fairer ways to generate and spend income in order to benefit park authorities and residents, the Farmers’ Union of Wales has said.

While the Welsh Government has yet to confirm the budgets for Snowdonia, Pembrokeshire Coast and Brecon Beacons national parks, cuts of 5 percent are anticipated for the coming financial year, with warnings of similar cuts in subsequent years.

FUW Brecon and Radnor County Executive Officer Aled Jones said; “There are naturally concerns regarding the impact the funding cuts will have for National Park authorities and residents and businesses within the parks, but it should prompt discussion on more equitable ways in which to generate income from those who visit the parks in order to compensate those who are faced with added costs and restrictions within National Parks.”

Mr Jones said that while many businesses benefitted from tourism within National Parks, many others did not.

“Many farms have diversified into tourism in order to help make ends meet, but if all farms did this the market would become diluted.

“This means the impact of being in a National Park for the majority of farm businesses is additional costs and restrictions compared with their counterparts outside the parks, and the same goes for other businesses and residents in general.

“Innovative ideas need to be explored in order to ensure income can be generated from visitors to the parks, as happens in other areas of the world, in order to compensate people and businesses for these additional costs.

“Otherwise the farms and residents which are at the heart of the community and landscape within our National Parks are effectively paying for the free entertainment of people who live outside the park's, many of whom come for day trips and bring little economic benefit to the area.”

[caption id="attachment_6081" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Your local County Executive Officer will help you fill in your SAF form – make an appointment today.[/caption]

Members of the Farmers’ Union of Wales are being urged to contact their local FUW office as soon as possible, if they wish to receive assistance completing their 2016 SAF forms.

FUW Montgomeryshire County Executive Officer, Emyr Wyn Davies, said: “The free service that we exclusively provide to all members to alleviate the pain of form completion has proved invaluable for thousands of members over the years.

“While we hope the forms will be easier to complete this year than in 2015, the volume of work is still likely to be significant.

“The only way in which to manage this is to ensure appointments are made sooner rather than later.”

Mr Davies said the FUW had urged Welsh Government to release SAFs as early as possible in order to spread the workload.

“However, the slow processing of the 2015 forms coupled with the high number of appeals, particularly in relation to alleged over-declarations, means extra work in terms of checking the accuracy of the data on the 2016 SAF,” he added.

Contact details for local county offices can be found on the FUW website at fuw.org.uk

On Friday February 5, the Farmers’ Union of Wales will be joining the Wear it. Beat it. campaign for the British Heart Foundation Cymru.

In order to raise vital funds for the charity, FUW staff and officials will wear red for the day to help beat heart disease. The office is also hosting a cake and coffee morning at its head office in Aberystwyth to which members of the union are invited.

Staff will be putting the fight against heart disease in the picture by further joining in with the social media campaign on Twitter. Those who  wish to join the online campaign can simply put a picture of themselves wearing red up on Twitter and tweet @FUW_UAC as well as adding the #WearItBeatIt hashtag.

FUW Marketing and Membership manager Caryl Roberts said: “We are very excited to once again join in the fight against heart disease and hope the event will not just raise money for BHF Cymru but also raise awareness of how much of a problem heart disease is across Wales and the whole of the UK.

“Heart and circulatory disease takes the lives of more than 400 people in the UK each day. We hope that those participating will have a cracking good time whilst raising money to beat heart disease.

“The money that is raised goes to help fund life-transforming treatments, support pioneering research, and help care for people. So let’s get red ‘everywear’ and raise the roof.”