The Farmers' Union of Wales today urged the Welsh Assembly Government to distribute EU emergency aid monies directly to dairy farmers in Wales following a meeting of the union’s finance and organisation committee.

EU member states recently agreed the UK will receive _29.26m of the proposed _300m aid package for dairy farmers struggling to cope with low milk producer prices.

EU agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel first announced the aid package back in October following months of protests and lobbying from dairy farmers. The exceptional measure was designed to ease the financial struggles of the worst affected EU farmers.

The finance and organisation committee objected wholeheartedly to payments being proportional to milk production or quota held, on the grounds that, on average, farms with higher production/quota get more money per litre for milk, due to production related bonuses, and also benefit from economies of scale such as cheaper feed.

Members felt that, ideally, they would like to see a system that benefits those with the greatest needs. However, they recognised that this is unlikely to be practical as it would involve individual assessments of every dairy farm.

FUW milk committee chairman Eifion Huws said: “We, therefore, support a system where all dairy farmers receive the same amount, on the grounds that this is practical, easily administered and is more equitable than a system that would, in many cases, see the most profitable businesses receiving more than those in greater need of the money."

A Farmers’ Union of Wales delegation to Brussels highlighted the dangers to Wales and the EU of Defra’s approach to CAP reform at a time when all parties should be pushing for a properly funded scheme recognising the key role agriculture must play in maintaining food security and mitigating climate change.

Mr Vaughan said although a favourable euro -sterling exchange rate has significantly helped the industry over the past year, Aberystwyth University’s Farm Business Survey results highlighted the industry’s continuing reliance on CAP payments to remain financially viable.

"So, in the absence of a system that ensures fair returns for our produce, the outcome of the forthcoming discussions on the post -2013 CAP is crucial to our future prospects.

"To get some idea of what the worst possible post -2013 CAP might look like, we need look no further than our own Westminster government policy, as laid out in the Defra -Treasury 2005 CAP policy document.

"Since 2005 the FUW has warned that that policy - which advocates less direct aid, more imports into the EU, and lower food prices - would devastate our industry and the rural areas in which we live."

Research commissioned by Defra and the Welsh Assembly also confirmed what the FUW had been saying for the past four years - that Defra’s policy would lead to a 26% fall in cattle prices, cattle numbers would plummet by between 26 and 29% and sheep prices would fall by around 12%.

Sheep numbers would fall by around 17% and similar trends are predicted for the milk, pig and poultry sectors.

"While it may have been drafted in 2005, this is not Defra’s 2005 policy: This is Defra’s policy now,” said Mr Vaughan.

"Despite their own reports warning that their policy will 'hasten the decline in agricultural employment' and 'employment within the wider rural economy' while undermining 'the viability of the rural population', Defra has made no u -turn and, for all the warm words recently spoken by Hillary Benn in favour of agriculture, its policy is to destroy our rural communities and businesses.

"So in terms of the forthcoming negotiations on the future of the CAP, which will be critical to farming in Wales, this is the policy that Defra will be trying to push, and even as I speak, Defra officials are no doubt holding meetings and discussions about how best to get as many of these catastrophic policies into the post -2013 CAP.

“We believe that people should not be pushing for Defra to be at the European Parliament’s negotiating table because it would be advocating a policy that evidence shows will devastate farming and our rural communities.”

A Farmers' Union of Wales delegation travelled by train to Brussels to discuss agriculture's key role in mitigating climate change as Sir Paul McCartney flew in from London to demand meat?free Mondays, the union's leader claimed today.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, McCartney admitted his flights from London to Brussels to make his case  - and on to Berlin for a concert later in the week - had contributed to global warming.

President Gareth Vaughan told the FUW's grand council he was accompanied by his deputy Emyr Jones and senior policy officers when they met EC officials and Welsh MEPs to express concern over Defra's proposals for the industry after the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is replaced in 2013.

"And while we were in the EU parliament, arguing in favour of a common sense approach to land use and climate change, both in terms of the CAP and the Copenhagen summit, Sir Paul McCartney, the former Beatle, was in the same building, doing exactly the opposite.“The FUW travelled there and back by train! The word hypocrisy springs to mind, and I am confident that the carbon footprint of our farm fades into insignificance alongside the hundreds of transatlantic journeys undertaken by Sir Paul over the years.

"While McCartney’s campaign might incense us here in Wales, the anger must be far worse in Kintyre, Scotland, where he made his home in an area where, like Wales, crop production is in many areas unviable, and livestock farming an integral part of the economy and environment."

The Farmers’ Union of Wales today welcomed the Assembly rural development sub-committee’s call for a “champion” to boost the dairy industry in Wales.

But the union also expressed bitter disappointment that the conclusions of the sub-committee’s inquiry did not deal with the controversial issue of the abolition of milk quotas in 2015.

“We support the wide-ranging recommendations made in this report,” said FUW milk committee chairman Eifion Huws, when it was launched at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair.

“Their conclusions tie in with policies advocated by the FUW for many years, particularly in terms of the equitable distribution of profits along the supply chain and the appointment of an ombudsman.

“However, we are disappointed that, in the current climate where hundreds of thousands of dairy farmers across Europe are protesting against the abolition of milk quotas, this issue has been blanked.

“In evidence to the committee the FUW highlighted the findings of numerous reports that show the abandonment of the quota regime will reduce farm-gate prices and milk production in Wales.

“This is a critical issue for the Welsh dairy industry, and there is a real need for a proper debate on the matter.

“That debate is raging on the continent but it is being largely ignored in Wales and the UK despite its critical importance to the sector.”