[caption id="attachment_4427" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Aled is presented with the trophy by Ayrshire Cattle Society president Maggie Howie at the Royal Welsh Show[/caption]

Carmarthenshire young farmer Aled Walters has scooped a top award for his proficiency at a variety of skills consisting of stock judging and showmanship.

Aled was presented with the Ayrshire Cattle Society's prestigious Hugh Stevenson Memorial Award during this year’s Royal Welsh Show.

The trophy is awarded annually to the young member who has scored the most points in all the society's competitions and who has also been judged to have made a major contribution to its young members movement throughout the year.

Ayrshire Cattle Society breed secretary John Cochrane said: “Aled gained the highest points for a variety of skills that he displayed during competitions held at the society’s young members gathering in April.

“He gained these points by being proficient at a variety of skills consisting of stock judging, reason giving, cattle dressing, showmanship and a written reasoned explanation of suggested sire matings for two cows from a list of six proven bulls.”

Aled, son of FUW vice president Brian Walters, farms with his parents and brother at Clynmelyn, Ffynnonddrain, near Carmarthen, a 500-acre farm carrying a dairy herd of 200 cows made up of two thirds Holstein and one third Ayrshire.

How fast can a turkey run and how much water does a cow drink in a day are just two of the questions posed in a children's quiz to be held by the Farmers' Union of Wales on their stand at the Pembrokeshire County Show (August 16-18).

"The competition will be based on facts about farm produce which children will be able to find around the stand," said the union's Pembrokeshire county executive officer Rebecca Williams.

"The facts will range from how much water a cow drinks during the day to how fast a turkey can run but they will also cover issues such as what different products come from different animals.

"For example, we get milk and meat from cows but we also get leather, gelatine for sweets and fats and fatty acids which are used in shampoos and perfumes.

"The aim is to give children a better understanding of the importance of agriculture in the wider world environment and the impact that its produce has on lots of day-to-day activities."

The winning entry will be drawn at 4pm on the Thursday of the show (August 18).

FUW Insurance Services are also running a free prize draw, sponsored by Agri-Lloyd, on the stand throughout the show. Showgoers will be asked to complete an enquiry card and the winner's name will be drawn immediately after the children's quiz draw.

Staff from Environment Agency Wales will be on the stand every day between 10am and 2pm to provide advice to farmers on a wide range of issues, from the benefits of soil testing to nutrient management.

And staff from Oswestry-based Davis Meade Property Consultants will also provide advice on a variety of issues, ranging from rent reviews to compensation claims, and give advice about on-farm renewable energy options.

There will also be meetings between local politicians and FUW national and county officers plus the presentation of the county branch's annual Countryside Award in the grand arena at 2.45pm on Tuesday (August 16).

The woman who founded the Welsh company that produces Ffermio, the popular S4C TV programme which deals exclusively with agricultural issues, has been presented with the Farmers' Union of Wales Bob Davies Memorial Award.

The award - in memory of Farmers Weekly Wales correspondent Bob Davies, of Welshpool, who died in November 2009, aged 69 - is offered to a media personality who has raised the public profile of Welsh farming.

Receiving the award - a shepherd's crook specially carved by Aberystwyth stick maker Hywel Evans - from FUW president Emyr Jones, Swansea-based Telesgop managing director Elin Rhys said: "Being chosen for this prestigious award is a great honour.

"To be acknowledged in this way means a lot to me and I'm deeply grateful to the FUW for considering that I'm worthy of the award."

After leaving college, Mrs Rhys started work as a scientist with Welsh Water, travelling around South Wales taking water samples from rivers and sewage works to monitor water quality.

By the mid-1980s she had moved to a completely different career. Starting as a researcher for HTV on a weekly Welsh language science programme, she soon turned her hand at presenting and very quickly became one of the most famous and recognised faces on TV in Wales.

She went on to present a wide range of entertainment and outdoor pursuits programmes for HTV in Welsh and in English, including the National Eisteddfod for the BBC 2 network. Soon she was a regular face on BBC network programmes fronting science and education series.

After the birth of her daughter Ffion in 1992, Elin changed tack and formed her own company - Teledu Telesgop - which started life in 1993 in the back room of the family home near Llandeilo.

Within a few years the company was operating from an office in Llandeilo and then moved to Swansea in 2004. Today Telesgop is based in Ethos at SA1 in Swansea and employs 35 full time staff specialising in agricultural, science and wildlife programmes.

During her TV career Elin has been chair of TAC, the body that represents the independent TV companies in Wales and had represented the industry on a number of committees and other bodies.

Mr Jones said: "Elin Rhys fully deserves to receive this award, not only for giving us the ever-popular Ffermio programme since 1997, but also for ensuring that her company provides so much important information to farmers and the wider audience."

Last December Telesgop retained the contract for BBC Wales's coverage of the Royal Welsh Show, after winning it back for another two years in an open tender. The company's relationship with the Royal Welsh goes back over 15 years, having pioneered S4C's live Welsh language coverage and winning the contract for the BBC in 2008.

In May Telesgop received the Live Event Coverage nomination for this year's BAFTA Cymru awards for Richard Rees and Branwen Davies' work at last year's Royal Welsh Show.

Welsh farmers want more fibre and wireless connections to help speed up broadband connections to their farms and cut the number of "not-spots" in the countryside.

That was the message delivered by Farmers' Union of Wales deputy president Glyn Roberts at the Royal Welsh Show today (Wednesday July 20).

He called for a similar scheme to one being rolled out in Cornwall where superfast broadband is expected to be available at half of the county's telephone exchanges by the autumn of next year.

"One of the objectives of us union officials is to create a favourable environment for members to run a sustainable agricultural business. One tool in this tool box is to have as good as possible a connection in terms of broadband.

"Welsh farmers want more fibre and wireless connections to help speed up broadband reception to their farms and cut the number of 'not-spots' in the countryside.

"We now have a chance to make this possible. Some important examples of services on the internet for agriculture are VAT, self assessment tax and BCMS cattle movement.

"There are a vast number of other usages that can increase the efficiency of our business e.g. benchmarking, trading on line and general research.

"Statistically, even back in 2001, New Zealand farmers who used IT had a 5% higher profit margin compared to those that did not see the advantages of using IT.

"Internet retail sales in the UK hit £22 billion in 2010 compared to £9 billion in 2006 and it is set to grow by a further £14 billion by 2014.

"It is also essential that our children and other members of our rural communities should have fast broadband internet access so that they are not left behind the rest of the country.

"A successful Internet broadband project was launched in Cornwall, so let us in Wales exploit the same opportunity and get the same benefits.

The Cornwall project is expected to create 4,000 new jobs and protect a further 2,000 existing jobs. It will make Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly one of the best connected places in the world.

"The FUW has been calling for improved broadband services for almost a decade. We want to see rural Wales becoming equally well connected to broadband as Cornwall," Mr Roberts added.