The Farmers' Union of Wales is reminding people that "It’s time to Shake Up Your Wake Up" by getting involved with Farmhouse Breakfast Week which takes place this year from January 23-29.

The FUW is a keen supporter of Farmhouse Breakfast Week - an annual campaign run by the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) since 2000. With one in four people regularly skipping breakfast, HGCA are challenging the nation to re-evaluate their morning routine.

Their campaign aims to raise awareness of the benefits of eating a healthy breakfast and demonstrate the variety of food on offer.

"Wales is renowned for the quality and freshness of its food and during the next few weeks I am really looking forward to showing off the best of our produce at centres of Government in Wales, Westminster and Brussels," said FUW President Gareth Vaughan.

The union's annual Welsh farmhouse breakfasts this year will take place at the National Assembly's Senedd building on Tuesday January 18, the House of Lords on Tuesday January 25 and the EC headquarters early next month.

And, for the second year running, the union's Caernarfonshire branch has also organised a series of Welsh breakfasts on five members' farms and at the Bryncir Mart cafe.

They will take place on January 24 at T?’n Hendre, Talybont, Bangor (tel: 01248 362 871); January 25 at Henblas, Dinas, Llanwnda (01286 830 459); January 26 at Plas Newydd, Llwyndyrys (01758 750 656); January 27 at Gwyndy, Tudweiliog (01758 770 274); and on January 28 at Dylasau Uchaf, Padog, Betws y Coed (01690 770 215) and Cegin Ann, Bryncir Livestock Auction Centre (01766 530 828).

"We’re sending invitations to all our members in the Caernarfonshire area who are more than welcome to bring along anyone with them to any of these local events," said FUW's Caernarfonshire county chairman Morgan Jones-Parry.

"Pre-booking a time slot is advisable. We will also be inviting local AMs, MPs, councillors, representatives of the Welsh Assembly Civil Service, Gwynedd Council staff, Snowdonia National Park, local schools and other establishments and anyone else we can think of.

"Local shops very kindly donated all produce free of charge last year and we hope for the same support this year. We will be charging £10 each for a full, cooked breakfast which will also include cereals, fruit juice, toast, tea and coffee.

"All proceeds will be split this year between the Wales Air Ambulance, which is the FUW President's chosen charity, and the Caernarfonshire fund for sponsoring this year's Royal Welsh Show," added Mr Jones-Parry.

Farmers' Union of Wales president Gareth Vaughan receives the MBE in the New Year Honours List for services to agriculture.

He said: "I am proud to accept this honour on behalf of all staff within the union who carry out such dedicated work. I am merely the figurehead and I must pay tribute to all those hard-working people."

Mr Vaughan said he owed a great deal to Llangurig YFC, which he joined after leaving school at 15, and the FUW, both of which "have been there for me" after "wasting so much of my school days".

"I owe a great deal to the union and to the YFC for the influences and experiences I have gained from being members of both organisations which made a great impression on me.

"The YFC, with its varied weekly programme of events, its support group of advisory members and club leaders, and the encouragement to develop our strengths at every opportunity, impressed me greatly.

"Within the FUW I've been very fortunate to have the support of some top-class staff who can be totally relied on at all times. I also offer many thanks to my family who have looked after things at home to allow me the time to spend on union work."

Mr Vaughan runs a traditional beef and sheep unit at Cwmyrhiewdre Farm, Dolfor, near Newtown, in partnership with his wife of over 40 years, Audrey, and 12 years ago his daughter Catherine and son-in-law Brian joined the business.

Born in Llanidloes in 1941, Mr Vaughan attended Manledd Primary and Llanidloes High Schools. He has been an active member of the FUW for many years and president for over seven years.

He was chairman of the Newtown branch in 1988-89 and Montgomeryshire county chairman from 1991-93 and has also represented the county on the union's grand council and land use and parliamentary committee, the British Wool Marketing Board, the Meat and Livestock Commission liaison committee and the Agricultural Dwellinghouse Committee.

He was elected as the north Wales member of the FUW's national finance and organisation committee in 1998 before being elected vice president in 2000, deputy president in June 2002 and president in June 2003.

[caption id="attachment_5039" align="aligncenter" width="140"] Gareth Vaughan[/caption]

By far the most important issue in 2011 will be the decisions made over the future of the Common Agricultural Policy which will affect farm businesses across the EU, said Farmers' Union of Wales president Gareth Vaughan in his New Year message.

"When the last major changes to the CAP took place in 2005, we were told that decoupling should prompt us to respond to markets. Since then, the industry has done just that - we have worked out the margins, decided that the market does not reward us fairly for our hard work and consequently production has fallen dramatically.

"This pattern, which is replicated across Europe, sends out a clear message to Brussels: if they value Europe's food security, they must ensure fair incomes for farmers, either through the CAP, or by ensuring fair returns from markets and tackling the imbalance of power in the supply chain.

"Failure to recognise this will decimate our food security and lead to massive social, economic, and environmental upheaval, all at a time when the concerning issues of peak oil and peak food should be a major concern for every person in the European Union.

"Over the coming months the FUW will do all it can raise awareness of this reality and the need for a post-2013 CAP which supports Welsh family farms."

Mr Vaughan said farmers throughout Wales are struggling to keep on top of all the work and worry the heavy snow has brought and, despite all the beautiful scenes which now surround us, they are all praying for a let up in the weather.

"As a Union we have to choose our battles carefully, and while controlling the weather is sadly not one we can win, anyone who is up to date with farming news will be able to guess what battles do lie ahead in 2011.

"Foremost in many people's minds is the prickly issue of the Glastir agri-environment scheme and the Minister's decision to extend the Tir Mynydd scheme by 12 months - something we called for in November 2009 - is a welcome move.

"However, the Assembly must now start properly listening to our concerns and make the scheme criteria as accessible and acceptable to farmers as possible.

"Then there is the issue of bovine TB, and the desperate need for a proportionate approach to be taken towards tackling the disease in both cattle and badgers.

"With farms throughout Wales faced with the huge burden of extra testing, there is a real need to revisit the current pre-movement testing regime.

"I believe it is regrettable that we were the only farming organisation which objected to the introduction of pre-movement testing in low or zero incidence areas - a view based upon analyses of herd breakdowns which showed incidence levels in parts of Wales to be lower than in Scotland, a country which is officially bTB Free and has no pre-movement testing requirement.

"In light of the impact of such extra testing, action must be taken to deal with the wildlife reservoir otherwise further attempts to control the disease in cattle are futile.

"The Assembly must therefore push on with its plans to tackle the disease in badgers in north Pembrokeshire, with a view to expanding such action to other areas where badgers are known to carry the disease.

"Other issues of concern in 2011 will include the completely unacceptable plans to transfer the costs of overly burdensome meat hygiene rules to the industry, and the ongoing impact of supermarket power - issues regarding which the FUW is committed to

Claims in newspaper advertisements placed by Save the Badger - a campaigning organisation run by charity Secret World Wildlife Rescue - have been ruled as being untrue and unsubstantiated by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), following a complaint by the Farmers’ Union of Wales.

The advertisements, published in May this year, encouraged members of the general public to oppose badger culling, and called on them to write to the Welsh Assembly Government and the Rural Affairs Minister opposing plans to cull badgers in north Pembrokeshire.

But the ASA ruled that claims made in the advertisements repeatedly breached Truthfulness, Substantiation, and Matters of Opinion codes. The advertisements breached ASA codes a total of nine times.

Save the Badger is affiliated with Somerset-based charity Secret World Wildlife Rescue, which specialises in the rescue, rehabilitation and release of wild animals. Patrons of the charity include wildlife film maker Simon King and novelist Jilly Cooper.

"Once again, a campaigning group has been found guilty of misleading the general public regarding the issue of badger culling," said FUW bTB spokesman and vice president Brian Walters.

"This ruling clearly shows that Save the Badger is either incapable of understanding basic scientific principles regarding badgers and bTB, or that they are prepared to mislead the general public in order to try and stop badger culling going ahead.

"Whichever is true, they have shown utter contempt for the people of Wales, and are likely to have misled thousands of people into campaigning against badger culling based on their false propaganda."

The advert claimed that WAG’s proposed badger cull had "no scientific justification", would "exterminate a native breeding species", and that "young (badger) cubs will starve underground", all three of which were ruled by the ASA as breeching Truthfulness, Substantiation, and Matters of Opinion codes.

"Badger culling reduces bTB in cattle, and is scientifically justified. The badger organisations may not like it, but that doesn’t give them the right to lie to the general public," said Mr Walters.

"Save the Badger should now issue a public apology to the people of Wales, admit that culling is the only tried and tested way of reducing TB in cattle in areas where badgers carry the disease, and admit that culling will only reduce badger numbers, not eradicate them."

Regarding a claim in the advert that "Killing badgers does not work", the ASA ruled that the claim was likely to be understood by the public as a reflection of the advertiser’s subjective view, but that it was not capable of "objective substantiation".

The statement was ruled not to have been misleading as it was clearly an expression of Save the Badger’s opinion.
"We have no problem with Save the Badger expressing their opinion, and accept the ASA’s ruling on this point," said Mr Walters.