[caption id="attachment_4366" align="aligncenter" width="300"] From left, Nia and Olwen Davies with some of the keen helpers.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4365" align="aligncenter" width="300"] From left, Lord Dafydd Elis Thomas AM, Dewi and Meinir Owen, FUW Insurance managing director Mark Roberts, FUW Meirionnydd county president Robert W Evans, North Wales Police rural crime officer Dewi Evans and FUW Meirionnydd county excutive officer Huw Jones.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4364" align="aligncenter" width="300"] From left, Beryl Hughes, FUW Meirionnydd county excutive officer Huw Jones, FUW president Emyr Jones, Plaid Cymru election candidate Liz Saville Roberts and Cynan, Ceris and Berwyn Hughes.[/caption]

The Meirionnydd branch of the Farmers’ Union of Wales has held three successful breakfast functions in aid of last month’s annual Farmhouse Breakfast Week (January 25 to 31) - a campaign organised since 2000 by the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) .

On Monday January 26 FUW members Olwen and Nia Davies, of Ty Cerrig, hosted a breakfast at Parc at Ysgol y Parc, near Bala, on Thursday January 29 Berwyn, Cerys and Beryl Hughes hosted a breakfast function at Llew Coch, Dinas Mawddwy and Dewi and Meinir Owen hosted the final county breakfast on Friday January 30 at Esgairgyfela, Aberdyfi.

“The aim was to highlight the benefits of eating a healthy breakfast and bringing the community together to discuss current agricultural topics and of course also to sample our wonderful Welsh produce, but also to raise money in aid of the FUW presidents’ charities T? Hafan and T? Gobaith,” said FUW Meirionnydd county executive officer Huw Jones.

“We are delighted to have raised around £1,150 for the charities in our county and are extremely grateful to all those who sponsored the events, to all who assissted with the arrangements and to everyone who attended the functions,” added Mr Jones.

The Farmers’ Union of Wales has welcomed deputy farming and food minister Rebecca Evans' announcement that private vets will remain at the heart of TB testing procedures in Wales.

Two "Delivery Partners" have successfully tendered for TB testing in Wales - Menter a Busnes in North Wales and Iechyd Da (Gwledig) Ltd in South Wales.

FUW animal health and welfare committee chairman Catherine Nakielny said: “The union is pleased that private vets will remain central to TB testing in Wales.

"The FUW believes that only private vets have knowledge of the farm business and of the local disease situation."

Farmers will continue to be responsible for ensuring that TB testing is completed on time but in future they will need to contact their regional Delivery Partner to make the arrangements.

Delivery Partners will then be responsible for allocating the actual testing activity through their network of practices and for assuring the quality of the work performed.

Work that has already been assigned to Official Veterinarian (OV) practices under existing arrangements will be completed by those practices but from April 1 all new work will be undertaken by Delivery Partners.

When making arrangements for tests, farmers and livestock keepers can express a preference to use a specific veterinary practice from within the Delivery Partners network to undertake their testing, and this preference will be honoured where possible.

Farmers and livestock keepers who would prefer to use a practice that is not part of the Delivery Partners network retain an option to pay for the testing privately.

“The announcement provides certainty to farmers in Wales about the future of TB testing and the continued and critical role of the private vet in the control and eradication of bovine TB,” added Miss Nakielny.

In the face of the current dairy crisis, the Farmers’ Union of Wales is once again calling on major UK supermarkets to commit to the procurement of Welsh dairy produce, and to ensure that the prices paid for dairy products are such that confidence in the long term future of the sector is revived.

Speaking after a recent FUW milk and dairy produce committee meeting, chairman Dai Davies said: “The FUW has written to the leading supermarkets in the UK to highlight that last year saw many months of consecutive downward milk pricing, which has caused major problems for the sector.

“Whilst some forecasts predict a decline in global milk supplies in the latter half of 2015, the Russian trade embargo, coupled with reduced demand in China and a weak economic environment, will likely delay price rises beyond any potential downturn in production.”

According to figures supplied by Defra, the average November UK farm-gate milk price was more than 16 percent lower than the same month in 2013 and is the lowest farm-gate price since September 2012.

“The falling dairy prices experienced by producers in Wales raises significant concerns within the dairy industry, and a lengthy delay in milk price recovery now seems certain due to a continuing supply and demand imbalance within the global marketplace.

“Factors such as low milk prices, poor profitability and long-term uncertainty in the sector have severely undermined confidence in the long term sustainability of this industry; the very nature of which requires a long term commitment and investment from producers,” added Mr Davies.

Whilst the Union recognises that dairy farmers supplying supermarkets on a dedicated supply contract have received more favourable milk prices, such farmers represent only a small fraction of the Welsh dairy sector – around 4 percent of production - and are therefore unrepresentative of the industry as a whole.

“Failure to secure commitment by providing sustainable prices for dairy should be a major concern for all those within the supply chain.  Between January and September 2014, UK dairy imports of cheddar cheese, speciality cheese and butter were around 77,000, 271,000 and 42,000 tonnes respectively and the union is therefore urging the supermarkets to ensure that a concerted effort is made to source dairy products from within our own shores,” added Mr Davies.

The Farmers’ Union of Wales has today welcomed the publication of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) dairy prices report and called on the UK government to correct those issues which have allowed supply chain imbalances to continue.

In its written evidence to the inquiry, the FUW called for an expansion of the Groceries Adjudicator’s power to cover all dairy producers and not just the small minority on retailer aligned contracts.

At present, retailer aligned contracts only account for about four percent of the milk produced in Wales and the union was therefore pleased to note the recommendation to include all dairy farmers in the remit of the Groceries Code Adjudicator.

The FUW agrees with the call on the government to activate the Adjudicator’s power to fine retailers before the election in May and has stated that it is essential that the Adjudicator can use this power properly and swiftly in order to bring retailers exhibiting unfair practises to account.

“The union has been mindful of the lack of progress on producer organisations in Wales and would seek more support from government to allow farmers the choice to join a producer organisation in order to increase their power in the supply chain,” said FUW milk and dairy produce committee chairman Dei Davies.

It has been a long-standing policy of the FUW to promote high quality Welsh produce and the union continues to state that a lack of transparency in labelling has misled consumers.

“Consumers must be able to make informed choices when purchasing milk and dairy products and we are pleased to see that the report calls for clearer regulation on the labelling of such produce.

“We are happy to see that the report calls on government to do more to promote dairy produce domestically and abroad and as such we would like to see the UK government lead by example with promotion beginning at home through greater local procurement in our hospitals and schools,” added Mr Davies.

Farmers have faced months of consecutive price drops due to an imbalance in global supply and demand.  Whilst recovery for the sector may be some way off, it is essential that lessons are learnt from the current crisis in order to offer dairy producers more protection against rapid cuts in milk prices.

“Market volatility is forcing dairy producers out of business at an unprecedented rate and it is the responsibility of the UK government to do everything possible to protect our dairy farmers from market forces which are beyond their control,” added Mr Davies.