[caption id="attachment_4495" align="aligncenter" width="300"] NEW FUW LANDUSE AND PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN GAVIN WILLIAMS[/caption]

Anglesey farmer Gavin Williams has been elected as the new chairman of the Farmers' Union of Wales's land use and parliamentary committee.

Mr Williams, a qualified accountant since 1979 and active member of the union's Anglesey county executive committee, farms around 90 acres at Pen-y-Bryn, Llynfaes. Together with his wife Nerys, a nursery school teacher, he runs a flock of 200 Lleyn sheep.

He said: "It is a great honour for me to be elected as chairman and I look forward to continuing the good work the previous chairman, Richard Vaughan, has done for the union and its members."

Chris Lewis, of Glangwy Farm, Builth Wells, was elected vice chairman of the committee.

He runs a fully organic 250-acre farm with his wife Gwlithyn where he grows barley, triticale and spring beans for their 50 cows, mostly Simmental cross, all progeny, 200 Texel cross ewes, four Kunekune pig sows and one boar.

He was county vice-chairman from 2004-2007, county chairman 2007-2010 and county president since last year. Mr Lewis has been a delegate on the land use and parliamentary committee for the past few years.

He said: "I am very pleased to be elected vice chairman of the committee and will of course be working hard for our members."

Mr Vaughan, who stepped down as chairman of the committee after five years, was recently elected vice president of the union. Together with his wife Dwynwen he farms Pall Mall Farm, Tywyn, which is one of two holdings totalling 550 acres. Most of the land is at Pant y Panel and Prysglwyd at Rhydymain, near Dolgellau.

A flock of 750 Welsh Mountain sheep is kept together with 150 ewe lamb replacements. Around 200 ewes are crossed with Texel and Suffolk rams and the remainder with Welsh Mountain. Approximately 30 store cattle are kept and fattened over the summer.

Farmers' Union of Wales leaders today called for the early reinstatement of the Tir Mynydd scheme which supports the less productive farming areas of Wales when they met deputy agriculture minister Alun Davies today.

FUW president Emyr Jones, his deputy Glyn Roberts and deputy policy director Rhian Nowell-Phillips urged the minister to reinstate the scheme in time for the 2012 IACS exercise dealing with single farm payments.

"Due to the low number of farmers entering Tir Mynydd's replacement scheme, Glastir, and the expected uncertainties over CAP reform we called for Tir Mynydd payments to be reinstated in time for the 2012 IACS due to be paid in 2013," said Mr Jones.

The Tir Mynydd scheme supports and maintains livestock production in the less productive farming areas of Wales. It is funded by the Rural Development Plan for Wales 2007-2013 which is financed by the Welsh Government and the EU.

Approximately 80% of the total 1.6 million hectares of agricultural land in Wales falls within the designated Less Favoured Area (LFA). Some 56% of the land in Wales is in the Severely Disadvantaged Area (SDA) and 23% in the Disadvantaged Area (DA).

Glastir is a five-year land management scheme, available to farmers and land managers across Wales, that the Welsh Government wants to replace the existing four agri-environment schemes from 2012.

"As well as Glastir, we followed up on other issues concerning CAP reform which we originally raised with Mr Davies in Brussels last week," said Mr Jones.

"We also brought up the plight of the dairy industry and highlighted the disparity between milk prices in the UK and the rest of Europe.

"We called for Welsh dairy farmers to have contracts which reflect some elements of a pricing formula so that producers can plan ahead for the future."

[caption id="attachment_4490" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pictured from left are Alun Davies, Deputy Welsh Agriculture Minister; Derek Vaughan MEP and Emyr Jones, FUW President.[/caption]

A Farmers' Union of Wales delegation visiting Brussels to discuss CAP reform met deputy Welsh agriculture minister Alun Davies just before he attended his first EU Agriculture Council meeting as part of the UK ministerial team alongside Defra minister Jim Paice.

"We made the most of the opportunity to tell the minister about the purpose of our visit and explain to him that we were in Brussels to fight for the future of Welsh family farms," said FUW president Emyr Jones.

Mr Davies was attending the Council as part of a two-day programme in Brussels for discussions with Mr Paice about CAP reform.

He also met Welsh MEPs and highlighted an innovative Welsh project to deliver added-value on new food products.

The showcase event highlighted the Knowledge Innovation Technology Exchange (KITE) project, delivered by the Food Industry Centre of the University of Wales Cardiff (UWIC). The programme provides a flexible package of support for small firms to help them develop the technical aspects of their businesses.

"I was impressed to learn that in the eighteen months it has been operating, the project has developed over 50 new food products, which is expected to double by the end of 2011, and over 70 jobs have been created in technical and manufacturing roles," Mr Jones added.

During the FUW's four-day visit he has led discussions with all four Welsh MEPs, the Italian chairman the European agriculture and rural development committee and other committee members from Germany, Scotland, Ireland and England.

A Farmers' Union of Wales delegation's four-day Brussels visit to discuss reform of the Common Agricultural Policy for 2014-2020 had an eventful start today.

The five-strong group is meeting MEPs from across the EU and senior EC and Welsh Government Brussels-based officials in a visit coinciding with crucial CAP discussions by the Council of Ministers and the EU Agriculture Committee.

But during their first meeting at the European Parliament building with UKIP MEP John Stuart Agnew, a member of the EC's agriculture and rural development committee, all staff and visitors were evacuated due to a massive power cut.

"We had a very constructive meeting with Mr Agnew, who is a farmer himself and fully understands the issues we discussed." said FUW president Emyr Jones.

"But it was only after the meeting ended that we realised the building had been evacuated.

"We were among the last few to leave the building.

"Hundreds had already left and we joined them outside on the concourse.

"We hope power will be restored quickly so we can resume our vital talks tomorrow," Mr Jones added.