The Farmers' Union of Wales today welcomed a Welsh Government's Wales Upland Forum report and its key recommendations into the future of Wales' uplands.

"Unlocking the Potential of the Uplands" reports on the current state of the Welsh uplands and makes recommendations about maintaining livestock production and other key industries which maintain the fabric of the majority of Wales' heartlands.

The report also recognises the central role agriculture plays in terms of the management of Wales' most precious ecosystems.

After the launch of the report in Llanelwedd, at which FUW president Emyr Jones spoke alongside deputy agriculture minister Alun Davies, Mr Jones said: "The publication of this report marks an important milestone and the FUW fully supports the key recommendations made by the forum.

"Our uplands represent not only a physical backbone to Wales, but also a cultural and economic backbone. Vast numbers rely on these areas economically, socially and, of course, for their recreation which itself brings economic benefits.

"The key industries in Wales' uplands are like the legs of a stool - if one of the legs is taken away, the whole lot will come crashing down."

Mr Jones commended the forum for rightly recognising farming as being one of those industries without which the uplands would "fall apart".

"The emphasis on the importance of maintaining food production and grazing livestock is welcome as is the proposal to introduce support in areas of natural constraint," Mr Jones added.

"We have always maintained that this is central to securing the sustainability of the uplands, and this is just one of a host of recommendations which we believe should be taken up in order to secure the future of our uplands and all the industries it supports.

"These recommendations are key to the backbone of Wales which holds us up economically, culturally and socially."

The Farmers' Union of Wales is warning farmers with areas of sole grazed common land to register links between their holdings and that land - or risk penalties for moving animals on their own farms.

The warning was issued today (Wednesday December 12) after a Welsh farmer was fined for moving animals between adjacent fields on his own farm.

The penalty, which brought to light a chance in policy regarding "CL99 land" not notified to the industry, has been branded by the FUW as "utterly ridiculous and irrational".

While the rules relating to movements of animals to and from common land were drafted with large areas of unfenced shared grazing in mind, many Welsh farms include normal fields registered as common land - for example, because of mapping errors - that are not shared with other farmers.

A previous common-sense approach by the Welsh Government meant such land was treated as part of the farm holding and there was no requirement to report or record movements of animals between registered and unregistered fields within a farm.

But the policy change means such movements must be recorded and reported, or a link between the fields notified to Welsh Government.

The change only came to light after former FUW Denbighshire county chairman Arthur Roberts received a major penalty for failing to report and record the movement of animals over an invisible legal boundary within his own farm, part of which is registered as common land.

"The fields on this farm are no different to those on any other except that part of the land is registered as common land for historical reasons," said Mr Roberts, who farms at Hafodty Bach, near Pentrefoelas.  "None of it is shared grazing and the land in question is just a stone's throw from the farmhouse.

"I could not believe it when we were penalised for a change in policy which meant we should have been sat in the field day and night recording the tag numbers of animals as they wondered across an invisible boundary, and reporting these movements to the authorities."

While Mr Roberts was partially successful in his Stage 1 appeal a penalty was still applied as the Welsh Government insists he should have registered a link between the fields.

"But the Welsh Government never informed the industry of this change. I have spoken to many others who have this type of land on their farms and they know nothing about this ridiculous rule.

"I fully understand why the rules exist for movements to and from shared grazing but to introduce this as a blanket rule to cover moves between normal fields is completely irrational. Common sense has gone completely out of the window.

"It means more paperwork for everyone, more risks of unfair penalties and it could actually compromise our ability to trace animal movements in the event of a disease outbreak because movements within a farm could show up in the database as movements to a separate holding."

FUW agricultural policy director Nick Fenwick said the policy went completely against the Welsh Government's "Working Smarter" agenda. "We are aware of many farms where fields or parts of fields are registered as common land, often due to mapping errors.

"They are known as CL99 areas and have caused numerous problems for years but we never imagined that the Welsh Government would start treating these areas as separate holdings for the purpose of movement recording and reporting.

"We have made numerous representations to the Welsh Government since March but they are adamant that they will not reverse the policy. We are currently seeking legal advice and have asked for an urgent meeting with the Chief Vet, but in the meantime farmers should register links with all common land which forms part of their holding.

"It sounds bonkers but it could be the only way of avoiding penalties."

[caption id="attachment_3761" align="aligncenter" width="500"] From left, FUW president Emyr Jones, EU Parliament agriculture committee chairman and former Italian minister for agriculture Professor Paolo De Castro and FUW deputy president Glyn Roberts[/caption]

The Farmers' Union of Wales met with European Commission officials, Welsh MEPs, EU agriculture committee members and a member of EU Commissioner Dacian Ciolo?' cabinet to discuss Welsh priorities for the Common Agricultural Policy during a four-day visit to Brussels this week.

After returning to Wales, FUW president Emyr Jones said today: "A great deal is up in the air at the moment regarding how the policy will look once implemented, partly because of the failure to reach an agreement over the EU budget.

"While we have major concerns regarding some areas, a number of the concerns we have been highlighting over the past eighteen months seem to have been taken on board."

Mr Jones said that, while the FUW maintained its objection to greening the first pillar, there was a general acceptance that some form of greening would occur, even if the CAP budget was reduced.

"However, a number of changes are being discussed which would significantly reduce the burden of greening for Welsh farmers, and this has to be welcomed," said Mr Jones.

One such change is the proposal to exempt farms which largely comprise permanent grassland from the requirement to grow multiple crops on areas categorised as "arable" - which would include areas where crops such as rape are cultivated - provided the area concerned was no more than 20 hectares.

"This is just one of the proposals being discussed in order to address concerns raised by the FUW with the commission and parliament as long as 18 months ago.

"Such a concession would allow those who rely on cultivating crops for their own use to continue doing so, thereby helping farms to remain efficient and reduce CO2, feed and transport costs, while also ensuring that the biodiversity benefits of growing crops are not lost."

Mr Jones warned that the threat of a reduced real terms CAP budget had to be recognised.  "We believe and continue to argue that the CAP budget should at least be maintained at current levels.

"However, we must be aware of the real threat that discussions over the coming months could have an adverse impact on the budget.

"As such, it is essential that bureaucracy is reduced under the future CAP. Even the freezing of the CAP budget in nominal terms would mean a real terms reduction, yet many of the draft proposals would mean increased costs for farmers and devolved administrations.

"It would be wholly unacceptable to ask farmers and the Welsh Government to deal with more costly rules and bureaucracy while delivering a reduced budget, and any perceived benefits in terms of cuts to the EU budget could in fact be lost through administrative costs for the industry and the implementing authorities."

Mr Jones said that the FUW's longstanding anticipation that Pillar 1 changes would not come into force until 2015 seemed now to be universally accepted, despite claims just months ago that a 2014 implementation date was still a possibility.

"The prospect of the Welsh Government making decisions as to what aspects of a new Regulation should be implemented in 2014, and making all the necessary administrative changes, all in a period of just a few months is a very worrying one, so the prospect of full implementation in 2015 rather than 2014 has to be welcomed.

"However, it does seem likely that changes to Pillar 2 will be implemented in 2014, as originally intended, in order to ensure continuity."

Welsh farmers breathed a sigh of relief that the Chancellor today cancelled next January's planned 3p per litre fuel duty rise but the Farmers' Union of Wales went a step further by calling for a cut in the duty.

"The FUW believes the rate of fuel duty needs to be significantly reduced to bring down the overall cost of fuel," said the union's president Emyr Jones.

"The high cost of fuel, including red diesel, has a serious impact on agriculture and the wider rural economy, especially from increased fertiliser costs.

"Many households in rural Wales rely on a car due to the fragmented public transport service and the distance from suppliers and markets means rural businesses are disproportionately affected by high fuel prices.

"There is also less competition between fuel suppliers and many people living in rural towns and villages are facing higher prices at the pump.

"We are very concerned that, with this winter looking like being a long and difficult one, the cost of moving our animals and of the food that travels around the country will all go up. Everything needs fuel so everything will increase in price.

"All those costs will eventually work their way back to the farmer so, although we are relieved that next month's fuel duty increase has been cancelled, we will still be campaigning actively for an actual cut in fuel duty."