[caption id="attachment_3547" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Farmer Huw Jones - left - explains the shortcomings to Emyr Jones and Jill Evans.[/caption]

Farmers' Union of Wales members and officials have highlighted the major shortcomings of sheep EID to Wales MEP Jill Evans during a visit to a Caernarfonshire farm. 

At Gwern Farm, Saron, near Llanwnda, Ms Evans heard how farmer Huw Jones and his family worked hard to make EID technology work as one of 14 Welsh EID trial farms but still experienced major problems. 

"Using the technology and having to record and report each and every movement represents a great deal of extra work and costs, and we are finding a significant number of the tags are not being picked up by scanners," said Mr Jones. 

"That means us having to go through sheep individually, read the tags manually and then write the numbers down. Doing that in horizontal rain and freezing cold weather means a great deal of extra work and a far higher risk of human error. 

"It is extremely frustrating when you have bent over backwards to get the technology to work but are still finding major problems which could lead to financial penalties. 

"It feels sometimes as if the system has been set up just in order to make it impossible for sheep farmers to avoid fines. 

"We are also experiencing numerous tag losses due to the requirement for double fencing imposed by various environmental schemes. How on earth can we be expected to achieve 100 per cent EID accuracy under such conditions?" 

FUW president Emyr Jones, who recently met EC officials to discuss the huge problems associated with compulsory sheep EID, said: "The experience of Welsh farmers since the compulsory introduction of EID in 2010 confirms everything that we warned the EC about over the previous decade and there is a desperate need for acceptance by the EC of the shortcomings of the technology. 

"Disappointingly, the Welsh Government has now confirmed that it will not allow tolerances for tag read-rates, which means a higher risk of farmers being fined as a result of technological failures that are beyond their control.

"The legal requirement for farmers is 100 per cent EID accuracy but everyone accepts that EID technology cannot deliver 100 per cent accuracy. Something desperately needs to be done to change a situation which I believe is completely immoral."

Ms Evans said: "It gives me no satisfaction to see that all the problems we predicted with EID have occurred in practise. It is simply unworkable. Farmers have made every effort to comply with the law but the fact is that it is impossible to tag and account for every single sheep in a flock.

"The electronic equipment available is not yet able to deliver a 100% reliable result and I have seen how easy it is for tags to get lost. Yet unless they comply 100% farmers will be penalised and this is unacceptable."

The FUW has branded European Commission proposals which would restrict Welsh arable farming as 'bad for farming, bad for food, and bad for the environment' following a meeting of its arable, horticulture and cropping committee.

Under the EC proposals, Welsh farmers with more than three hectares of arable land would be required to plant at least three crops, irrespective of whether those crops are suited to their land or businesses, with no one crop taking up less that 5 and more than 70 percent of the land.

Newly elected committee chairman Maelgwyn Davies, who farms around 65-70 acres of barley, wheat and maize for cattle feed, said: "The proposals take no account of the fact that on large numbers of Welsh farms growing three crops would be impractical, uneconomic and bad for the environment.

"It would mean farmers in Wales becoming less able to grow crops for their own use, thereby undermining farm self sufficiency, as well as restricting our ability to respond to market prices and demands.

"The draft regulation does not properly recognise the priority of ensuring food security, which has been identified by the Commission as a priority. In fact, it would undermine food security at a time when it is acknowledged that global food shortages are inevitable.

"The idea of farmers with more than three hectares of arable land having to grow at least three different crops, with no one crop being grown on less than 5 percent and more than 70 percent of the land is completely unrealistic for large numbers of Welsh farms due to our climate and topography.

Mr Davies said the proposals would also have a negative impact on the environment.

"The growing of arable crops is encouraged under agri-environmental schemes and by wildlife organisations, because they add to the diversity of food sources which are available for wildlife. These proposals would push many mixed farms away from undertaking mixed farming, thereby having a detrimental impact on the environment.

"Not only would this be damaging to local environments -- it would also have a broader impact on the global environment in terms of our carbon footprint, since it would reduce our ability to grow crops locally for our own use, leading to more feed being imported from countries which have poor environmental track records."

[caption id="attachment_3542" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Maelgwyn Davies - left - with John Savins.[/caption]

Ceredigion farmer Maelgwyn Davies was today elected the new chairman of the Farmers' Union of Wales arable, horticulture and cropping committee.

The committee held its inaugural meeting at the union's head office in Aberystwyth.

Mr Davies, 56, of Panteryrod, Llwyncelyn, near Aberaeron, helps run the family farm's commercial herd of sucklers, a small herd of pedigree Charolais cattle that they intend to increase, and Welsh ewes.

The farm also produces barley, wheat and maize for cattle feed and diversified in 1995 by setting up a go-cart track.

John Savins, 45, the union's Pembrokeshire county chairman, was elected the committee's vice chairman. He runs a herd of 200 suckler cows on his 530-acre farm at Boncath, Pembrokeshire, and also farms around 120-acres of barley.

"By establishing an arable, horticulture and cropping committee we are now able to voice our concerns to the Welsh Government and discuss future plans of action," said Mr Davies.

"Today we discussed crop diversification proposals under the new CAP reform, biotechnology and food security. I look forward to the work this committee can do for the union and its members in the future and hope that we will work closely with the Welsh and UK Governments on arable farming issues," he added.

The Farmers' Union of Wales today welcomed deputy agriculture minister Alun Davies's commitment to review how the Welsh Government has implemented the Glastir agri-environment scheme and listen to suggestions on improving the process in the future.

"The success and popularity of schemes such as Tir Gofal, Tir Cymen and, latterly, Tir Cynnal illustrate how farmers are quite happy to enter well-designed agri-environment schemes which balance environmental management and enhancement with agricultural production," said chairman of the union's land use committee Gavin Williams.

"Therefore, we welcome the Minister's review, so that we can develop a scheme which will meet both farmers' and the Minister's aspirations for sustainable farming into the future.

"Having participated in the previous Rees Roberts review of the scheme, we hope that the terms of reference for this review will be far broader, to enable a more fundamental approach to addressing the perceived barriers to uptake for the benefit of all," Mr Williams added.