[caption id="attachment_3519" align="aligncenter" width="450"] from left Elwyn Jones, Catherine Nakielny, Christianne Glossop and FUW senior policy officer Hazel Wright[/caption]

Farmers’ Union of Wales Carmarthenshire county vice chairman Catherine Nakielny was today elected chairman of the union’s new animal health and welfare committee.

Miss Nakielny, 34, of Blaennant, Talley, near Llandeilo, has previously worked as an independent sheep consultant for two-and-a-half years and also helps run the 350-acre family upland sheep farm.

She is a co-opted member of the FUW’s livestock, wool and marts committee and the union’s parliamentary and land use committee. She is also involved with the Welsh region of the National Sheep Association and has just recently returned from a three-week study tour of research organisations and farms in New Zealand as part of her Nuffield Scholarship.

Elwyn Jones, 48, the Meirionnydd delegate for the animal health and welfare committee, was elected the committee’s vice chairman. Together with his wife Megan, a teaching assistant, he runs a flock of 900 Lleyn ewes on his 700-acre farm at Dinas Mawddwy, near Machynlleth. He took over the family business in 1998 and has since developed four cottages into holiday accommodation.

After the committee’s inaugural meeting at the union’s headquarters in Aberystwyth, Miss Nakielny said: “It is a great honour for me to be elected to chair this important committee.

“By establishing the animal health and welfare committee we are now able to voice our concern and discuss future plans of action with the Welsh Government.

“It was great to have the chief veterinary officer for Wales, Christianne Glossop, here with us today and to speak to her about the concerns the union has regarding sheep scab, the eradication of bovine tuberculosis and other animal welfare and health issues.

“I look forward to the great work that this committee can do for the union and its members in the future and hope that we will continue working closely with the Welsh Government on animal health and welfare issue,” she added.

The 2012 annual dinner of the Farmers' Union of Wales' Caernarfonshire county branch will be held at Meifod Country Restaurant, Bontnewydd, near Caernarfon, on Friday January 20.

Guest speakers will be FUW national president Emyr Jones and his deputy Glyn Roberts. Entertainment after the meal will be provided by Hogia ‘Sbyty who include FUW area officer Dafydd Jones.

Tickets at £25 each are available from the county branch office at Llys Amaeth, 2 Stryd y Castell, Caernarfon, tel: 01286 672541.

The Farmers' Union of Wales' Caernarfonshire county branch has organised an open meeting to discuss the future of the Common Agricultural Policy and the current consultation on the future scanning of sheep for the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster.

The meeting will be held at Capel Curig Community Centre on Wednesday January 18, starting at 7.30pm.

Dr Nick Fenwick, the FUW’s director of agricultural policy, will be present to outline the latest information on the future of CAP payments and Hefin Davies, from the Food Standards Agency, will explain the details of the Chernobyl consultation document.

Welsh Government plans to sell Pwllpeiran research farm in Ceredigion as separate lots from next autumn was described as a major blow for the Welsh farming industry by Farmers’ Union of Wales president Emyr Jones today.

“For the best part of a century, Pwllpeiran has played an important role in the development of agriculture in Wales and in terms of global agriculture,” said Mr Jones.

"The pioneering work of the former Welsh Plant Breeding Station's founder George Stapleton and others is still recognised internationally as being intrinsically linked with Pwllpeiran.

“We have today written to agriculture deputy minister Alun Davies explaining that a central aim of the work at the farm was to significantly improve the viability of farming in the uplands, thereby ensuring continued agricultural productivity in disadvantaged areas while also stemming rural depopulation.

“There is no doubt whatsoever that these objectives were met and that thousands of farming families such as my own owe our very existence to that work,” said Mr Jones, whose upland beef and sheep farm at Bala won the British Grassland Society's top UK grassland award in 2008.

Against a background of rising global populations and diminishing natural resources, it is essential research is undertaken which will allow farmers to produce more food while having less impact on our environment, the union stressed in its letter to the minister.

“The aspirations of Stapleton and others are more pertinent today than they have ever been and it is particularly ironic that news of the sale of Pwllpeiran came during the same week that saw discussions at the Oxford Farming Conference focussing on the importance of stepping up agricultural research and development,” said Mr Jones.

“Therefore, the decision to sell our only significant upland research land, rather than ensuring its continued use for important and ground-breaking work, represents a backwards step for agriculture in Wales.

"I would urge the Welsh Government to consider all possible options which would allow its continued use for research,” added Mr Jones.

[caption id="attachment_3507" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Emyr Jones on his farm[/caption]