Two of the most influential figures in Welsh agriculture will give their views on the industry’s current situation at the Farmers’ Union of Wales’s annual general meeting at the MedRus conference centre on Aberystwyth University’s Penglais campus on Monday June 17.

Natural resources and food minister Alun Davies and the Assembly’s environment and sustainability committee chairman Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas will be the guest speakers at the event.

Coffee will be served from 9.15am until 9.45am when FUW president Emyr Jones will formally open the conference. Following a question and answer session with both guest speakers, the union’s internal, external and staff awards will be presented.

The £50,000 proceeds of various fund-raising events by numerous Farmers' Union of Wales staff, members and supporters have been formally handed over to Cancer Research Wales (CRW) patron and BBC TV news presenter Huw Edwards.

FUW president Emyr Jones presented the cheque to CRW fund-raiser Meinir Lewis, a Cardigan farmer's daughter, and Mr Edwards on the set of his BBC Wales Sunday night programme "The Wales Report".

Mr Jones said: "On behalf of all those who enthusiastically gave of their time and energy to help the FUW raise funds for the union’s chosen charity, I was proud to hand over a truly handsome sum to an organisation that funds research into the treatment and diagnosis of cancer for the benefit of people throughout Wales and beyond."

Accepting the cheque on behalf of CRW, Mr Edwards said: “It gives me great pleasure to act as patron for such an important charity. I’m proud to be associated with an organisation which values its supporters and works tirelessly to make a difference."

A CRW spokesperson said: “We are so grateful for this generous donation and the ongoing support of the Farmers’ Union of Wales. The FUW staff, members and supporters’ commitment and creativity in their fundraising efforts over the past few years has been brilliant.

“The £50,000 raised by all the FUW’s hard work will help Cancer Research Wales continue its ground-breaking research into cancer treatments at facilities such as the Velindre Centre.”

Founded in 1966, CRW is Wales’ only independent cancer research charity. In 2000 Mr Edwards opened its research laboratory in the grounds of Velindre Hospital in Cardiff, which has since become a centre of excellence for the non-surgical treatment of cancer.

The charity also funds pioneering work at other facilities across Wales including the Wales Cancer Bank - a hugely exciting project and a real investment by today’s generation for the Welsh people of tomorrow.

The Farmers' Union of Wales is launching a report this week highlighting the importance of agriculture and grazing livestock to the economy and ecology of the Cambrian Mountains and emphasising the central role Wales’ upland farmers should continue to play in delivering a host of ecosystem services.

“The Role of Grazing Animals and Agriculture in the Cambrian Mountains” report - to be formally released on Thursday (May 30) - has been written by former Joint Nature Conservancy Committee member and Countryside Council for Wales board member Dr Ieuan Joyce.

It highlights the fact that large tracts of the Cambrian Mountains are designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), EU Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs) due to their unique ecologies, and that agriculture and grazing livestock have played a central role in creating and maintaining the landscape for thousands of years.

FUW hill farming committee chairman Derek Morgan, who farms on the eastern slopes of the Cambrian Mountains, said:

“Our ancestors were farming these hills thousands of years ago and it's possible to see the ruins of their farmsteads and sheep pens throughout these hills and mountains.

“Farming and grazing animals have become an inherent part of our landscape and upland ecosystems and this report highlights not only the dependency of upland species on agriculture, but also the key role that agriculture should play in terms of addressing the challenges of the coming centuries.”

According to the report, management by farmers has, over the millennia, not only enabled the production of high quality food, but has also led to the development of internationally important semi-natural ecosystems.

The Cambrian Mountains also deliver a range of services from the natural environment which benefit industries such as insurance and water companies, and the report recommends such industries should have greater involvement in financially supporting practices which deliver benefits they currently receive free of charge.

The report cites evidence indicative of cultivation and grazing in the pollen record as well as the large numbers of cairns, individual megaliths, stone rows and circles as pointing to the exploitation of upland pastures during the Bronze Age 5,500-3,500 years ago.

“In the medieval period, Owain Glyndwr’s ancestor, Gwenwynwyn ab Owain Cyfeiliog, gave parts of the Cambrian Mountains to the monks of strata Marcella and it seems likely his close family connections with those farming the mountains led him and his troops to take refuge there during the early 1400s, resulting in his famous Cambrian mountain victory at the battle of Hyddgen,” said Mr Morgan.

However, he warned that more than 600 years on Welsh farmers in the area are facing a new threat - from those who wish to "wild" the Cambrian Mountains.

“This is not just an attack on the Welsh communities who have farmed the mountains for thousands of years, it is also a major threat for our upland ecosystems which are adapted to and reliant on farming,” he said.

Mr Morgan added that farmers and conservationists alike must recognise that inappropriate grazing - whether in the form of over or undergrazing - can cause damage to our ecosystems.

“The vast majority of farmers and conservationists are on the same page on this, particularly as undergrazing becomes recognised as a problem for species such as golden plover.

“We need to build on that understanding and recognition. Wilding would throw all we have learned out of the window.”

Mr Morgan said a wilding experiment on the Cambrian Mountains would be akin to the herding of American Indians onto reserves, in order to satisfy a romantic whim, and would result in the destruction of existing ecosystems.

“We have farmed these mountains for millennia and we will not give in to the latest attack on our way of life.”

The launch of a vaccine to tackle Schmallenberg virus (SBV) in sheep and cattle was welcomed by the Farmers’ Union of Wales animal health and welfare committee chairman Catherine Nakielny today.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate has now issued MSD Animal Health with a licence to provide the new “Bovilis SBV” vaccine and UK farmers will be the first in the EU with access to this vaccine which will help protect sheep and cattle against birth defects caused by SBV.

“This is fantastic news for the farming community. The vaccine means that farmers can vaccinate sheep and cattle before most of them become pregnant, which is important as it is during early pregnancy when exposure to the virus can cause damage to the foetus,” said Dr Nakielny.

“Despite the vaccine, I would reiterate the warning we put out in January that all farmers in Wales need to be on the lookout for any unusually high incidences of abortion or congenital abnormalities - deformed lambs, swollen heads, weak lambs etc.

“There have been 1,753 confirmed cases of SBV throughout the UK and this virus has been detected in every county in England and Wales, so we are pleased that farmers will now have the choice to opt for vaccination against this disease and we would like to urge farmers to discuss vaccination with their vet at the earliest opportunity,” added Dr Nakielny.

There is no known risk to human health from SBV but the advice for pregnant women remains to be cautious around farm animals and to follow strict hygiene procedures, the union stressed.

[caption id="attachment_2402" align="aligncenter" width="256"] Farmers’ Union of Wales animal health and welfare committee chairman Catherine Nakielny[/caption]