[caption id="attachment_5499" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Mr Roberts said Welsh hunts were nothing like the stereotypical images portrayed in the media.[/caption]

The Farmers’ Union of Wales has called for MPs to support a government amendment to the Hunting Act, which will allow livestock farmers to protect their livestock against losses to foxes.

The amendment, which is expected to be voted on by MPs next Wednesday (July 15), would remove the limit on the number of hounds which can be used to flush foxes to guns and extend the circumstances under which a dog is to be used below ground to cover livestock protection (the current exemption only covers the protection of birds for shooting) but would not change the overarching ban on pursuing and killing wild mammals with dogs.

FUW President Glyn Roberts said: “While this would be a minor amendment to the act and not change the overarching ban on hunting, it will be a big step forward for Welsh livestock farmers whose average incomes are now less than £10,000 a year and for whom foxes can cause thousands of pounds worth of damage.”

Mr Roberts said that the change would place Wales on an equal footing with Scotland, where legislation introduced by Labour in 2002 bans traditional hunting but allows any number of hounds to be used to flush foxes to guns in order to protect livestock.

During the spring of 2013 a survey of more than 650 farmers in Welsh markets found that 76 percent had lost more lambs to foxes since 2005, while 96 percent confirmed lamb predation by foxes has an impact on their farm income.

“Research conducted in Scotland in 2013 has also confirmed the obvious, which is that using just two dogs significantly increases the amount of time foxes are hunted for compared with using a pack and that the chances of foxes being flushed from dense cover is more than halved when you use just two dogs,” said Mr Roberts.

“In a country such as Wales, where we have vast forestry plantations 1,000s of acres in size, the two dog limit means more lambs killed by foxes and more wildlife killed by foxes and lower farm incomes,” he added.

In 2005 the League Against Cruel Sports acknowledged that “Pairs of dogs are utterly useless in flushing to guns.”

Mr Roberts said that the vast majority of Welsh hunts were run by farmers in order to protect livestock and nothing like the stereotypical images portrayed in the media.

“Those who portray this move as the reintroduction of hunting by the back door are not only wrong but show a willingness to compromise animal welfare and the incomes of the poorest farmers in the UK due to misguided prejudices.”

[caption id="attachment_5500" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A lamb killed by a fox on a hill farm in Wales. A survey of more than 650 Welsh farmers found 76 percent had lost more lambs to foxes since 2005[/caption]

The Farmers’ Union of Wales has welcomed the Welsh Government’s decision to move from historical payments to a flat rate Basic Payment with ‘top-up’ payments on the first 54-hectares over a period of five years. 

The decision to introduce the system - referred to in the EU regulations as ‘redistributive payments’ - was announced by deputy minister Rebecca Evans in a Welsh Assembly plenary session today (July 7). 

The option would mean moving from the current historically based model towards estimated payments of €243 for the first 54-hectares of eligible land per farm and €124 for all remaining eligible land by 2019. 

FUW president Glyn Roberts said: “In their responses to the recent consultation on the Basic Payment Scheme, the majority of our twelve county executive committees agreed that the phased introduction of a 54-hectare top-up model paid at the maximum rate was the only realistic option at this stage, given that regional payments have been ruled out.”

 Mr Roberts said there was widespread frustration that the maps held by Welsh Government are now not believed to be sufficiently accurate to implement a regional payment model, which would allow higher payments to be made on better quality land, without breaching the regulations. 

“As such, the number of realistic options was severely depleted, with the top-up option being the only approach which met the objective agreed by government and stakeholders of minimising disruption,” he said. 

The 54-hectare top-up would benefit those with around 125-hectares (300 acres) or less of eligible land when compared with a uniform 2019 flat rate of around €176, reducing financial losses for around 70 percent of claimants. In particular the approach would help mitigate losses for those sectors likely to be worst hit by the implementation of a uniform flat rate payment model. 

However, Mr Roberts acknowledged that the deputy minister’s support for the union’s position would not be popular with all. 

“The majority of our membership gave us a clear mandate to support the implementation of the top-up option, and I therefore welcome the Welsh Government’s support for our position.

“However, it’s estimated that around 30 percent of recipients would have been better off under a flat rate system, while for a large number the top-up approach will merely reduce the losses they would experience under any system.  

“We must therefore ensure that our rural development programme focusses on helping those who are set to lose most under the payment system adopted in Wales,” he added.

The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) has warned that the fall in lamb prices, drastically reduced farm incomes and frustrations over the volume of imported lamb on supermarket shelves means farmer anger is reaching boiling point.

“Lamb prices have fallen drastically over recent weeks, with prices down by around 20 percent compared with the same period last year,” said FUW livestock, wool and marts committee chairman Dafydd Roberts.

“Such falls come against a background of predicted falls in net hill and lowland livestock farm incomes of 41 and 24 percent.”

Mr Roberts said the volumes of imported lamb, which continue to appear on supermarket shelves, added insult to injury for farmers who had seen a fall in liveweight new season lamb prices of around 35p/Kg during June.

“The FUW has highlighted the need for an increase in farmgate prices for all commodities during meetings with supermarkets over recent months, and the current plight of the industry was reiterated in a meeting with deputy minister Rebecca Evans last week.

“We will continue to draw attention to the need for fair farmgate returns in meetings with bodies involved in the supply chain during the Royal Welsh show,” he added.

Mr Roberts said that while there was an ongoing focus on farmers cutting costs and become more efficient, there was widespread feeling that those further down the supply chain were not meeting their side of the bargain by showing the type of commitment to Welsh produce promised during the horsemeat scandal.

“As people struggle to pay bills and face up to the prospect of further falls in CAP support, tempers are beginning to fray and action needs to be taken to restore confidence,” he added.

[caption id="attachment_5372" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Glyn Roberts.[/caption]

Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) president Glyn Roberts has highlighted the need for a fairer red meat levy distribution system in his final speech as a Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC) board member.

Mr Roberts, who has been a member of the statutory Welsh meat promotion body’s board for more than a decade under different board structures, said he was standing down in order to give his new role as FUW president his complete devotion.

Speaking after his last board meeting on Monday (July 6), Mr Roberts said: “I have enjoyed my role as a HCC board member and seeing the organisation rise to a range of challenges in terms of the promotion of Welsh meat and industry development.

“However, there can be no doubt that the inequity in the current red meat levy distribution system has held us back to the detriment of Welsh farmers, particularly over recent years.”

Mr Roberts was referring to the system whereby levies collected from farmers and processors in countries in which animals are slaughtered are made to those countries’ meat promotion bodies - HCC in Wales; Quality Meat Scotland in Scotland; and the English Beef and Lamb Executive and British Pig Executive in England.

“This means that HCC’s levy funding does not come close to reflecting the number of animals born and raised in Wales, a problem which has got much worse since the closure of the Gaerwen slaughterhouse in North Wales, which has led to many more Welsh animals being slaughtered in England,” said Mr Roberts.

It is estimated that the closure of the Vion plant at Gaerwen in 2013 led to a drop of around £500,000 in HCC’s red meat levy funding, while the closure of a pork processing facility in Scotland in 2012 had a similarly detrimental impact on Quality Meat Scotland.

“The Farmers’ Union of Wales raised this imbalance with Rosemary Radcliffe in 2005 when she conducted her review of the levy bodies, but the issue was not addressed and we also wrote to Scottish stakeholder organisations in 2010 highlighting the need for action to be taken,” added Mr Roberts.

Responding to the recent Smith Commission report on further devolution for Scotland, which recommends that the Scottish Government be granted extra powers to opt into UK arrangements on red meat levies and receive an equitable share of those levies, Mr Roberts said: “The FUW has made it clear over the past decade that any such moves must be extended to Wales.

“The current levy distribution system is not fit for purpose and Welsh farmers are suffering as a result.

“The advent of EID and other technology means an equitable system should now be easier than ever to implement.”

Mr Roberts said that as a HCC board member his main responsibility had been to scrutinise HCC’s work from within, and that such scrutiny would now continue but from a different perspective.

“I would like to take this opportunity to wish the Board and staff of HCC every success,” he added.