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FUW president Glyn Roberts (r) with deputy minister for agriculture Rebecca Evans (l)[/caption]
Farmers’ Union of Wales president Glyn Roberts has described a meeting with deputy minister for agriculture Rebecca Evans as ‘extremely positive’ but warned that major challenges needed addressing over the coming months and years given the current state of farm incomes.
Mr Roberts said it was important that the long term challenges facing the industry were planned for, and that the strategic framework for Welsh agriculture and Rural Development Programme (RDP) are key to addressing these challenges.
During the meeting, held on October 5, a broad variety of issues were discussed, including the latest developments of the RDP, Bovine TB and the recent Welsh Government consultation on access to the countryside.
“With farmgate prices and farm incomes at their lowest for around a decade, Welsh farmers are facing major challenges, with cash flow becoming a major problem for many.
“The fall of around 6 percent in the sterling value of Wales’ Basic Payment budget adds to existing pressures, as is the likelihood that the complexity of the new EU regulations will delay farm payments being made in full.”
Mr Roberts said he was disappointed that the European Commission had not gone further in terms of the concessions, which would have allowed payments to have been released earlier, due to the financial problems facing the industry.
“The fact that all administrative checks and controls must be completed before advance payments can be made in October and the volume of work this represents under the new rules, means hopes raised for the release of early payments following the emergency EU summit last month, were unfounded.
“Nevertheless, we welcomed the deputy minister’s commitment to do everything possible to ensure 70 to 80 percent of payment values are released in December, and urged the Welsh Government to continue that work.”