Rheinallt Hughes, President of Denbighshire Farmers’ Union of Wales and the chairman of the union’s Hill Farming and Marginal Land Committee is a cut above the rest.

Rheinallt, of Llanarmon DC, Llangollen, has just won a place at the Welsh Open Blade Shearing Circuit and is representing Wales for the first time at a World Championships - in France on Saturday.  

He and fellow FUW member Elfed Jackson of Bethesda will be competing in the open blade championships on Saturday 6 July at La Dorate, near Limoges. It’s the first time in the competition for Rheinallt and the 10th for Elfed.

“We came out here last week to acclimatise to the conditions, which is just as well. It has been 40 degrees over here,” said Rheinallt.

FUW President Glyn Roberts wished him well: “Rheinallt puts his all into his work with the union and I know that he will do us proud this weekend.” 

Rheinallt, together with his family, farms approximately 980 acres at Tu Hwnt i’r Afon, Llanarmon DC, Croesoswallt, of which 240 acres are owned and 720 acres rented. 400 acres are in SSSI (moorland) and they are in Glastir and Glastir Advanced.

The family have a flock of 300 Welsh Mule Ewes  and also have a flock of 1300 Welsh Mountain Ewes. The farm is also home to a herd of 20 suckler cows  He and his wife Liz, who is also out in France with the team,  also run a Holiday Cottage Business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abi Kay, who has been Farmers Guardian chief reporter since September 2016, was honoured for her exceptional work by the Farmers’ Union of Wales with the Bob Davies Memorial award. 

The award is offered to a media personality who has raised the public profile of Welsh farming every year.

A former member of the NFU politics team in London, and a long-term Parliamentary aide in Westminster before that, she has spearheaded FG's coverage of politics and regulatory affairs in Wales and across the UK during her time with the publication. She also founded FG's hugely popular Brexit hub online.

Presenting her with the award, FUW President Glyn Roberts said: “Abi has been a tremendous force in bringing Welsh agriculture and the politics associated with it to the forefront of people’s minds - in print and online. 

“Her way of holding politicians to account, asking the hard-hitting questions and sympathetically reporting the lives of those who keep the wheels of our Welsh rural economy running is a credit not just to the Farmers Guardian, but to journalism in general.

The Ceredigion branch of the Farmers’ Union of Wales is putting mental health and farming matters firmly on the agenda at the up-coming Annual General meeting.

The event, which is held on Tuesday 9 July at 7.30pm at the Moody Cow, Llwyncelyn, will hear from DPJ Foundation founder Emma Picton-Jones and give members the opportunity to discuss the most critical farming issues in an informal setting.

The Farmers’ Union of Wales has welcomed moves by the European Commission, which aim to increase transparency in the supply chain, by improving the ways in which prices are recorded and reported.

In 2016, an EU Agricultural Markets Task Force (AMTF) was established to examine the role of primary producers in the wider food supply chain.  In 2017, following the recommendations of the AMTF, the Commission launched a consultation on the improvement of the food supply which covered three elements: unfair trading practices, producer cooperation, and market transparency. 

Having previously banned unfair trading practises and having providing mechanisms for improved co-operation, this latest consultation  seeks to improve fairness in the food supply chain by introducing greater transparency in the way prices are reported throughout the chain. 

“Tools, such as the Eurostat tool launched in 2017, aid transparency by helping demonstrate how price rises and falls are transmitted from one part of the supply chain to the other and what impact this has on each constituent element and how quickly.   

“However, at present, the EU only provides supply chain information such as producer and consumer prices and little information is provided on other supply chain elements,” said FUW Senior Policy Officer Dr Hazel Wright.

If adopted, the change would help address this problem by covering the meat, eggs, dairy, fruit and vegetables, arable crops, sugar, and olive oil sectors and each Member State will be responsible for the collection of price and market data.

"While we will not be subject to these changes if we leave the EU with no deal at the end of October, such transparency will be of huge benefit for UK farmers both as a benchmark and for those exporting to the EU.