The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) has highlighted an array of grave concerns regarding the impacts of a disadvantageous trade deal with Australia in a meeting with UK Minister for Trade Policy Greg Hands.

Speaking after the meeting on Wednesday (19 May), FUW President Glyn Roberts said: “Both the minister and I agreed wholeheartedly that it is important that we seek new trade opportunities for UK agriculture and other industries.  However, we made our concerns regarding the adverse impacts of a liberal deal with Australia very clear.”

Mr Roberts said that a host of issues were discussed during the meeting, including the potential benefits for Welsh agriculture of the UK’s membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which the UK is currently seeking.

The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) says concerns that a trade deal struck with Australia could be severely damaging to UK farming and food production are well founded and echo worries expressed repeatedly by the union over the past five years.

The comment came after the Financial Times reported on a “ferocious” internal battle within the UK Government between the Department of International Trade and Defra over the terms of a UK-Australia trade deal that could allow food produced in Australia to be imported to the UK tariff-free.

FUW President Glyn Roberts said: “It’s very clear that the British public is opposed to opening the flood-gates to produce from countries where farmers do not have to comply with the high standards we have here, and we fully support those within government who are fighting such proposals.  

A tenant farming family from Montgomeryshire has hit a brick wall over the Welsh Government’s recently introduced Water Resources Regulations, with their landlord standing in the way of their ability to comply with the new regulations. Bryan Jones, his wife Susan and son Andrew, farm at Coedyparc, Caersws, Powys, a 105 acre all grassland farm which is home to a 85 strong closed dairy herd. 

The family, who have been farming here since 1973 on a lifetime tenancy agreement, are worried that with their landlord unwilling to foot the bill for the costly capital works required to be compliant with the new regulations and the banks not lending money for works carried out on tenant farms, it will spell the end of their farming lives on the holding.

Bryan Jones said: “I’ve been milking cows my entire life, starting when I was just 12 years old and will mark my 66th year of dairy farming this year. It’s what we do as a family. It’s our life. We have never had a pollution incident here. NRW through their own assessment have confirmed that there is no pollution here, but we still need to comply with these new regulations and carry out works at eye watering costs which will be in the region of £70,000. Who is going to pay for that? 

The Farmers’ Union of Wales has welcomed the news that free BVD testing for cattle farmers in Wales has been extended until 31 December 2022. The testing, which is provided through Gwaredu BVD, supports both youngstock testing and the hunt for persistently infected animals in order to help herds eliminate the disease and achieve BVD free status.

Over 8,600 of Welsh herds (80%) have been screened for Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) since its launch in 2017. From the 8,600 herds already screened, approximately 2,446 (26.1%) have tested positive. The programme now aims to continue working with farmers and their vets to identify the persistently infected (PI) animals.