Meirionnydd Dwyfor MP Elfyn Llwyd will be the guest speaker at a meeting of the Farmers' Union of Wales county executive committee meeting next Monday evening October 4 at 7.30pm.

Mr Llwyd has close connections with the county branch and has a keen interest in agriculture and rural issues. The meeting will be held at Neuadd y Cyfnod, Bala.

It will be an opportunity for discussion on matters such as the forthcoming Common Agricultural Policy reform, the impact of UK Government polices on the rural economy of Wales and the likely outcome of the new Coalition's spending review.

Defra and the Welsh Assembly Government's new bovine TB eradication proposals and concerns regarding the Glastir scheme will also be discussed.

The Farmers' Union of Wales today welcomed European Commission indications that it will not punish sheep farmers for electronic identification (EID) errors beyond their control.

The EC's reported decision follows strenuous lobbying from Scottish MEP Alyn Smith and the FUW who raised the issue several times with the Welsh Assembly Government and even launched a petition to the Prime Minister which gained the support of 1,000 UK farmers.

"We have regularly pointed out the very real worries of Welsh farmers that they would be forced to pay heavy cross-compliance penalties as they grappled with the new EID regulations which came into force last January," said the FUW's hill farming committee chairman, Llangurig sheep farmer Derek Morgan.

Mr Smith had called on the Commission to give farmers a three-year amnesty while new EID technology was initiated. They declined to agree to an amnesty but a spokesman confirmed this week it would adopt "a proportionate" approach for farmers.

"In this context, failures, breakdowns, shortcomings, which are not within the range of influence of the keeper but casually determined by the technology used and within the normal error rate of that technology should not be sanctioned," the spokesman added.

The Commission also indicated it would not "automatically" penalise farmers where "one ear tag is missing".

Welcoming the news, Mr Morgan recalled telling the Assembly's rural development sub-committee in March last year that the union believed there were sufficient grounds for the EU Ombudsman to investigate the fact that farmers were being forced to use a technology that had been shown to have major flaws.

"I have first hand experience of EID, having used it on a small proportion of my Welsh Mountain sheep for the past seven years, and found that the technology is not sufficiently developed to be practical for the average Welsh flock. This has also been the experience of the vast majority of farmers and slaughterhouses that took part in recent trials.

"Even when dealing with a small number of sheep that are electronically identified, we are forced to manually record information on paper due to reliability issues with the technology. It's all very well using it to record and monitor a small specialist flock, but scaling its use up for every sheep in the country is madness."

In a written submission to the sub-committee's EID inquiry, the FUW emphasised the particular problems the regulation would bring for Welsh farmers, highlighting the fact that 80% of Wales comprises Less Favoured land, and that Welsh farms are therefore dependent upon moving animals from the mountains into the lowlands for wintering.

The FUW's petition, in the name of vice president Glyn Roberts, stressed that compulsory EID meant the increasing financial and practical burdens placed upon UK farmers would put them at a competitive disadvantage compared with importers into the EU.

It underlined farmers' concerns that the EID technology had major flaws including reliability, which brought into question the credibility of the decision to impose it from last January.

Mr Smith said the EC's latest move was encouraging news for farmers operating an imperfect technology. The sub-standard technology puts UK farmers at risk of having their Single Farm Payment docked for reasons beyond their control.

He said he would soon meet with the Commission to reinforce this point and to secure further clarity on their stance.

Punitive fuel duty rates - amounting to well over two-thirds of the price of diesel and petrol - plus the lack of broadband access are creating major problems for farmers and other people living in rural Wales, according to the Farmers' Union of Wales.

As it emerged that a North Wales filling station was this week charging 127.9p per litre for diesel, which included a massive 81.03p fuel duty, FUW president Gareth Vaughan bitterly complained: "Rural dwellers are being ripped off by such huge fuel costs."

According to the AA, this month's average prices in Wales are 118.7p for a litre of diesel (75.20p fuel duty) and 115.8p for a litre of unleaded petrol (74.69p duty).

"But because of a lack of public transport in many rural areas of Wales farmers, other business people and individuals have no alternative other than to use their own vehicles," said Mr Vaughan.

He revealed the views of the union's 12 county branches were included in its response to the Welsh Office's "Rural Economy Project" consultation which also listed other problems for Welsh farmers such as proposed increased Meat Hygiene Service inspection charges and the serious impact recent Post Office closures have had for individuals and businesses in rural areas.

In a letter to Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales David Jones MP, the FUW stressed many rural businesses already pay far higher tax levels than their competitors and called for a tax rebate for rural dwellers.

The union pointed out that 4x4 vehicles were a necessity for many individuals and businesses in rural areas due to a range of factors, including the poor standards of access to houses and business premises in rural areas, and the prioritisation of major trunk roads by Local Authorities during adverse weather conditions.

"The current vehicle taxation system means 4x4 owners pay far higher vehicle tax rates than owners of normal vehicles. Yet the system takes no account of the fact that those who own such vehicles do so out of necessity rather than choice.

"Nor does the system take into account the fact that 4x4 owners already pay higher taxes because the level of duty paid on fuel is directly proportionate to the amount of fuel used."

On meat hygiene inspection charges, the union stressed the introduction of a new time-based charging regime will mean a significant rise in the costs of running slaughterhouses, particularly for small and medium sized slaughterhouses.

"Such slaughterhouses provide important local services for farmers and the public, ensuring that animals and meat are not transported over large distances, and that niche and value added markets can be accessed."

With an increase in inspection charges, many slaughterhouses are likely to find it economically unviable to continue operating. "Closures would mean the loss of local businesses which rely on selling locally produced and processed food."

The union pointed out that almost a fifth of houses are further than five kilometres from a BT exchange and broadband cannot be accessed.

"Within rural areas, this figure is much higher and it has been estimated that in areas such as Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Flintshire more than 40% of all households are unable to access broadband at speeds greater than 2Mbps.

"While the Welsh Assembly Government's Broadband Support Scheme is naturally welcome, it is believed that Westminster Government should also take steps to encourage and accelerate the roll-out of broadband in rural areas.

"The Inland Revenue now requires all tax returns to be filed on line, while a number of other government agencies, such as British Cattle Movement Services, are moving towards internet, rather than paper-based services.

"While the reasoning behind such moves is apparent, no account is taken of the lack of access to online services in rural areas where broadband is not available. Paper alternatives to online submissions of information should be available to all those for whom internet access is not an option."

Since the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) took control over the Wales Tourist Board there has been less involvement with the farm tourism sector, the Farmers' Union of Wales has told AMs.

Responding to the Assembly's rural development committee inquiry into rural tourism, the union revealed that its members believed that there was less engagement on tourism issues since the merger of the board into the WAG.

"Our farm diversification committee enjoyed a close working relationship with the Wales Tourist Board and was actively involved with consultations on tourism-related strategies," said committee chairman Deilwen Breese. "However many of the existing strategies and action plans have not been reviewed since the merger.

"Farming creates and maintains the landscape which visitors enjoy and also produces the food which can boost their enjoyment of the countryside but the introduction of the Single Investment Fund (SIF) - part of the range of support offered through the WAG's Flexible Support for Business programme - had created a great deal of confusion within the industry.

"Farmers complain of a lack of information and guidance about the fund which they claim is complicated and bureaucratic to apply for, particularly by small businesses," Mrs Breese added.

"Many farm-based rural tourism businesses are usually run as part of the family business which does not necessarily create new jobs but does keep existing family members on the farm. This sort of job security is as important as job creation when weighing up potential grant bids.

"Farm tourism operators fear that priority is being given to promoting facilities around urban areas and while events like the Ryder Cup will attract media attention and public investment, they are not convinced they will benefit from these initiatives.

"The FUW calls for closer involvement with the Assembly Government as a first step in improving support for rural tourism. It also believes that existing strategies need to be revisited and reviewed to ensure that they remain fit for purpose."