On Monday 23rd of May, a payment plan development workshop, 'Hedges and Edges', was held on Fferm Fedw Arian in Rhyd Uchaf near Bala. 'Hedges and Edges' is a Coed Cadw proposal and the charity hopes the Welsh Government will use its proposals as part of the new Sustainable Farming Scheme. The workshop was being held to give the Farmers’ Union of Wales and NFU Cymru an opportunity to jointly develop the plan, and give feedback to Coed Cadw.

As one element of the proposals, this scheme would provide a type of basic payment based on the mapping of existing hedges and wooded edges, with more money available to improve the condition of those hedges and to plant new ones.

For those farmers who have already done a lot to improve and develop the hedges on their farms, there would be a maintenance payment on the work that has already been completed. The aim of the plan is to create a form of additional basic payment that can achieve ecological objectives while being accessible to all. This kind of plan would also enable farmers to increase the number of trees in Wales without losing farms or planting trees in fertile fields.

by Angharad Evans, Welsh Language Communications Officer 

I spent most of the year 1992 in the company of Digion y Dolffin. Yes, you read correctly…Digion y Dolffin! Digion y Dolffin was the mascot of the Aberystwyth National Eisteddfod 1992 Children's Pageant - “Seth Gwenwyn a’r Gwyrddedigion” - a pageant telling the story of a group of young people who wanted to save Cantre'r Gwaelod from Seth Gwenwyn's siege! 

I have to admit that I have a hazy memory of the period, but I do remember all the rehearsals for months before, and the feeling of being very small on such a big stage to take part in the Cnapan scene during the Pageant. By now, I realise how unforgettable the experience was and of course the honour of being able to take part in such a special event.

Fast forward exactly 30 years, and the Eisteddfod returns to Ceredigion, and finally, Tregaron, has the opportunity to welcome the Eisteddfod to the area. After the disappointment of the last two years of having to postpone, the area is now more than ready to welcome Wales to mid Ceredigion!

During the first week of August, Tregaron and the surrounding area will extend a welcome to everyone, and many have been looking forward to seeing old friends around the Maes and enjoying the various programmes and sessions that show our culture and language at their best.

The rain luckily held off for the Wales YFC Sports Day on 19th June this year, where many of our talented members turned up to compete at Brecon Leisure Centre.

Starting at 10am, the morning consisted of the team competitions; Touch Rugby, Ultimate Frisbee, Ladies “Rush” Hockey and Men’s Dodgeball.

Carmarthenshire came first in the Men’s Dodgeball, where we were fortunate enough to have representatives from Rhondda Dragons Dodgeball Club to volunteer their time, kit and expertise. The competition was a great success, and although competitive, the atmosphere was an extremely fun one! Second place went to Gwent Federation, and third to Brecknock.

On the AstroTurf, the ladies “rush” hockey took place, with Brecknock winning first place with their fast and precise shots. Radnor came a close second, with Gwent following in third place.

The adrenaline-pumping Ultimate Frisbee went down well with our younger members, testing their agility and catching skills in a new and exciting competition. Brecknock reached the top, and Ceredigion achieved second, therefore both teams will be going forward representing Wales at the NFYFC Sports Day in July. Pembrokeshire achieved third place. That wasn’t the last we saw of Brecknock’s achievements, as their touch rugby team also came in first place, Carmarthenshire in Second and Pembrokeshire in third.

It was great to see a crowd of young people from all over the country gather at Ruthin Mart on a sunny day during late April to compete and socialise after a rather miserable time.

The Field Day is held annually and is an opportunity for members of the Wales Young Farmers Clubs of all ages to come together to learn and share essential skills for working safely in agriculture.

Including activities such as fencing, farm machinery skills, sheep dog trials, Fferm Ffactor, auctioneering and junior and senior stock judging, there is enough variety for all keen young farmers to demonstrate their rural knowledge and skills when undertaking the various challenges during the day.

On 23rd April, Clwyd Federation hosted the Wales YFC Field Day at the Ruthin Livestock Market. It was a fun-filled day with a great turnout from all counties, and the standard of the competition was once again very high, even after a break of two years between the last Field Day and now!

The day was kindly sponsored by Wynnstay, who also supplied the fencing materials for the Junior Fencing compeititon. Menter a Busnes also sponsored the Farm Machinery Skills competition, with Mona Tractors Co. Ltd and Emyr Evans a'i gwmni cyf. kindly loaning the machinery for the competitions.

Overall winners of the day were the Brecknock Federation, who collected an array of trophies on the day. Both Junior and Senior fencing competitions were won by the county, as well as member Rhian Lewis winning the Senior Stockman of the Year competition. Thomas Pritchard also won first place in the auctionneering competition; it was great to see all the competitors in action!

by Angharad Evans, Welsh Language Communications Officer

Things will get better is now one of those iconic expressions, and one that has kept so many of us going through the long pandemic. BUT, at long last, we can look forward to the important events of our agricultural calendar, which provides us with an opportunity to start socialising again with everyone. Our house is now brimming with excitement for the summer shows.

What better way to start the show season than to hold a spectacular Nefyn show at the beginning of May. The crowds flocked back to Botacho Wyn fields for a wonderful day of competing and socialising. But arranging such a successful show is quite a task! Behind the scene, there is a lot of thorough organizing happening, and Eirian Lloyd Hughes, FUW Insurance Services Ltd Account Executive in Dolgellau knows this better than anyone, as she is the General Secretary of Nefyn Show.

After a busy show, Cornel Clecs had the opportunity to congratulate Eirian and the team on putting on a memorable show and to ask her about how difficult it was to get back into the swing of things after two years without a show due to Covid's restrictions? What were the biggest difficulties?

Eirian said: "It was a decision made towards the end of January when the restrictions seemed to be easing, and it was a bit risky at the time as things were not very clear, but everyone agreed unanimously to resume with the organizing work.  We only had three months to do everything instead of the usual six months, but things came together amazingly well in the end.

"The committee, although small in number, is extremely enthusiastic and we have volunteers who are more than happy to help out on the field before and during the show. Unfortunately, it was not possible to have a poultry section this year because of avian influenza and we did miss this section. We noticed that the cost of everything had increased since our last show in 2019 and as we had made a loss in 2020 because the show was organised before the first lockdown, this show needed to pay its way, and luckily, it did.”