The Farmers’ Union of Wales is urging shoppers to keep their Christmas shopping local to show support for rural and local businesses, especially as the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted how vital local shops are.

FUW Deputy President Ian Rickman said: “As we speed towards Christmas, I would urge you to think about your rural businesses and see if you can buy local, either for the upcoming Christmas dinner or even gifts for family and friends. 

“This year we have seen how important the local shops and businesses are. Many of us relied on them to help out with delivering food and other essentials during the lockdowns and now is the time to repay that favour by supporting them.”

The FUW and other key organisations representing Welsh food and drink producers and manufacturers have written an open letter to the Prime Minister highlighting key issues that must be addressed immediately to avoid detrimental impacts to the industry following the end of the EU Withdrawal period.

“The European Union is the largest market for Welsh food and drink businesses to export their goods to, and includes exports of red meat and dairy products worth an estimated £320 million to Wales,” said FUW President Glyn Roberts.

“What happens in the run up to 1st January 2021 is critical to the economic viability of many food, drink and farming businesses and the supply chains and jobs they support,” said FUW President Glyn Roberts. 

The nine organisations which signed the letter comprised the British Meat Processors Association, CLA Cymru, Farmers’ Union of Wales, Food and Drink Federation Cymru, Livestock Auctioneers Association, National Beef Association, NFU Cymru, National Sheep Association Cymru and the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society.

The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) has reacted with dismay that support for Welsh Hydropower has been axed and is urging the Welsh Government to look for a long term solution to keep the production of hydropower on farms a viable option. 

The FUW has consistently recognised the threat represented by climate change and the need to take action and farmers in Wales have been instrumental in helping achieve a more than five-fold increase in renewable energy production in the past 15 years.

FUW Policy Officer Charlotte Priddy said: “We are dismayed to hear that the Welsh Government has changed their grant scheme to only supporting community owned hydropower projects with their rates bills, a scheme that has previously provided £1m of support to the sector over the last four years. 

The Farmers’ Union of Wales has highlighted an array of issues facing the farming community, which if left unaddressed could be the perfect storm for farmers' mental health. In a virtual meeting with Minister for Mental Health, Wellbeing and Welsh Language, Eluned Morgan, Union officials discussed how the combination of Brexit uncertainty, Covid-19 and proposed new farming policies are putting immense pressure on farmers and their mental health.

FUW President Glyn Roberts said: “We had a very good meeting with Eluned Morgan and we raised many pertinent issues which play on our farmers’ mind. As we all know the problems on farms are plentiful and some can be addressed by talking about them, others however require the Welsh Government to re-evaluate their current and future agricultural policies.” 

Mr Roberts said that the imminent danger of substandard imports arising due to new trade deals, new subsidy schemes which fail to specifically address economic prosperity for rural communities, the lack of preparation for a no-deal scenario at Welsh ports and in other areas, the rapid impact of the coronavirus pandemic on global supply chains and also the increased use of public access which has caused a broad range of problems for our members, all add to the perfect storm that is brewing.