The Farmers’ Union of Wales 2015 internal award in recognition of services to the agricultural industry in Wales has been won by Glamorganshire beef and sheep farmer and long standing South Wales special member of the Farmers’ Union of Wales finance and organisation committee Lorraine Howells at today’s annual general meeting (Monday June 15) held at the MedRus conference centre on Aberystwyth University’s Penglais campus.

FUW president Emyr Jones, who presented the award, said: “Lorraine has been a member of the FUW for around 40 years. Her commitment and service to the union and agriculture has been of tremendous value and we thank her for all she has done.

“She has been a hardworking and conscientious member of the FUW and many standing committees and during this time we have recognised that Lorraine speaks her mind passionately and strongly, but constructively.

“She served as the union’s Glamorganshire county vice chairman from 1989 to 1991, county chairman from 1991 to 1995 and was elected as South Wales member of the central finance and organisation committee in 2000 before being elected vice president in June 2011.

“Lorraine chaired the FUW’s central common land committee for over ten years and is a past vice chairman of the central hill farming and marginal land committee.

“She has served as president of the Welsh Black Cattle Society and her successful and renowned butchers shop Cig Mynydd Cymru, which she set up eight years ago with five fellow breeders in the Rhymney and Merthyr Valley, is testimony to her commitment to the farming industry.”

Miss Howells, who farms Cwm Carno Farm, Rhymney, a hill farm extending to 320 acres mostly of reclaimed opencast land with common grazing, has been farming since 1974 at first in partnership with her grandparents, and then on her own.

“We must also acknowledge the sterling work Lorraine does outside of the union. She is the treasurer of her local commoners association, sits on the local access forum with her local authority, she is also part of the local action group for the RDP team, sits on the south east Wales TB board as a farmer member and has previously sat on the upland forum,” added Mr Jones.

“I am very proud to receive the award today and I must thank Lee Pritchard for all his help on the farm. Without him I would not have been able to carry out as much work for the union as I have,” said Miss Howells.

Cwm Carno farm carries a suckler herd of pedigree Welsh Black cattle and South Wales Mountain ewes and has been in the family for over 100 years.

Miss Howells took early retirement from teaching at the local comprehensive school in 1997 to devote more time to farming.

[caption id="attachment_5348" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Presenting the FUW internal award for services to agriculture to Lorraine Howells are (left) FUW president Emyr Jones and (right) FUW deputy president Glyn Roberts.[/caption]

Delegates at the Farmers’ Union of Wales’ (FUW) annual general meeting have been told farmers are ideally placed to play a key role in addressing the major challenges of our generation.

However, speaking to delegates on Monday (June 15) in Aberystwyth, FUW president Emyr Jones warned that this could only happen if the industry was unhindered by regulations, and proper incentives were provided through the Rural Development Programme (RDP).

“At the time of our establishment in 1955, post-war rationing had only just come to an end, and the impact of food shortages remained fresh in peoples’ minds,” said Mr Jones.

Over the subsequent sixty years farms had modernised in order to providing plentiful and affordable food, he told delegates, meaning less than 10 percent of household incomes were now spent on food compared with more than 30 percent in 1955.

“In 1955 the world’s population stood at 2.8 billion. It now stands at 7.3 billion, well over double the 1955 level, and by the time the FUW reaches its 75th birthday it is expected to have trebled to 8.4 billion.

“With world populations set to continue growing, food production must remain the priority, but we must also recognise the other pressures and needs that growing populations bring, not least in terms of energy and the management of our natural resources.”

Mr Jones said Welsh farmers would rise to these new challenges just as they had done over the past six decades, but could only do so with the support of a focussed Rural Development Programme and in the absence of unnecessary restrictions.

“An appropriately structured RDP has the ability to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry over the coming years and decades, and above all else raise hopes.

“Such hope is desperately needed out there in the farming industry, at a time when farm incomes have crashed; farmgate prices have plummeted; and those factors influencing the Euro-Sterling exchange rate show little hope of improving in the near future – not to mention worries over our departure from the EU.”

Mr Jones said that while some factors were beyond government control, regulation was one area they did control which can make or break the ability to become more profitable while addressing key challenges.

He warned that the Welsh Government’s appetite for legislation could not only hinder the achievement of key objectives agreed upon by government and farming organisations, but also bring the principle of devolved government into disrepute.

“Overzealous legislation makes for bad governance, and strapped for cash businesses and authorities across Wales wait with bated breath, hoping that their worst fears are not realised when it comes to implementing the raft of legislation that is about to hit us here in Wales,” he added.

The Anglesey branch of the Farmers’ Union of Wales is unveiling a plaque to commemorate the Land Army Girls on Friday June 26 at the Anglesey County Showground.

“The FUW, together with the local community, has raised enough money now to have a plaque made and it is to be placed very aptly on the Anglesey County Showground, home of the Anglesey Agricultural Society,” said FUW Anglesey county executive officer Heidi Williams.

“As in World War One, young women were called on to work on the land and the Women’s Land Army (WLA) was re-formed in July 1939.

“Their work was vital as so many men were sent to war. The work was hard and the young women usually worked in isolated communities. Many lived in hostels or old farm workers’ cottages, often without running water, electricity or gas and for this we want to commemorate them.

“It is understood that this is the only plaque of its kind in Wales to honour the ladies who gave their valuable service to agriculture during the war,” added Mrs Williams.

The event will be followed be a vintage parade, tea party and a visit from “Parti Canu Ysgol Henblas”.

“We would love to hear from anybody with an interest or connection to the Land Army Girls and who would like to attend the event and our war veterans are of course also most welcome to join us,” added Mrs Williams.

For more information please phone Heidi Williams on 01248 750250.

The Farmers’ Union of Wales has highlighted the depression affecting Wales’ farming industry and the need to use Rural Development funds to help farm businesses.

Speaking alongside Deputy Minister Rebecca Evans at the Wales Farming Conference (June 4), FUW president Emyr Jones told delegates that Welsh farmers are facing the most challenging and difficult period for a decade, as a severely depleted CAP budget, coupled with ongoing uncertainty over what form the Basic Payment Scheme will take, added to extreme pressures caused by a crash in farm gate returns and farm incomes.

“Put simply, farming once again finds itself in depression, and the anger out there amongst the industry is evident,” said Mr Jones.

Describing the Strategic Framework for Welsh Agriculture consultation document launched by the Deputy Minister at the conference, Mr Jones said it contained aspirations for agriculture which few could disagree with, especially given the difficulties currently facing the industry, with agricultural prosperity and profitability being at the core of the framework.

Comparing the document with previous strategies, Mr Jones told delegates that “I’m glad to say that the strategy framework proposals being launched today differ significantly, even radically, in that, if adopted, this is not some 200 page strategy document which will join the others on the shelf.”

“Thanks to the joint work of government and industry bodies, it proposes the formation of an umbrella partnership group to oversee a short and to the point list of key objectives, most notably achieving and sustaining profitability.”

However, Mr Jones warned that the ability to influence many key factors which would help achieve these objectives were limited.

“We cannot control oil prices or exchange rates, and only God can change the weather which can make or break a profitable year.

“But the Rural Development Programme is one key toolbox we do have at our disposal.

“For our industry, and in particular our most important food producers who, whatever the final decision on the Basic Payment model is will lose the most significant amounts of money, the RDP is a lifeline.”

Mr Jones reminded those present of former minister Alun Davies’ commitment to using RDP funds to invest in the future of agriculture and equip it to cope with reductions in financial support and market failure, and welcomed the Deputy Minister’s commitments to strategic initiatives aimed at the red meat and dairy industries in particular.

“I welcome the Deputy Minister’s commitments to strategic initiatives aimed at the red meat and dairy industries in particular, and would urge Welsh Government to ensure that the partnership approach which it has signed up to is adopted when it comes to putting more flesh on the bones of the RDP so we can achieve the key objectives identified in this document, most importantly the profitability and prosperity of agriculture, without which all other objectives for our rural communities and landscapes become unattainable and irrelevant.”