[caption id="attachment_4384" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Farmers' Union of Wales Carmarthenshire county executive officer Meinir Bartlett[/caption]

An award in memory of the Farmers' Union of Wales top officer in Carmarthenshire for over 20 years has been won by the current county executive officer Meinir Bartlett and her Carmarthen-based team.

Meinir picked up the Owen Slaymaker Award given annually to the county branch that has best promoted the interests of members and the union at every opportunity and effectively raised the union's profile through organised events, functions and meetings.

Mr Slaymaker was the FUW's Carmarthenshire county secretary from 1970-90 and county executive officer from 1990-91 when he died in service.

Presenting the award to Meinir at the FUW's recent annual general meeting, new president Emyr Jones said: "Our agricultural policy, public relations and administration departments assess the winner on the basis of what’s been achieved during the year and who has gone that extra mile on behalf of members.

"They look for quality of policy consultation responses, press contributions and promoting the union and its activities at every opportunity, whilst taking good care of members’ needs."

In addition to farm visits and many other activities, Meinir and her team organised two events at Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli, including a fund-raising dinner and an “Agriculture & Countryside” display during a Scarlets v Ulster match when a Welsh Black bull was paraded around the pitch.

Meinir joined the FUW 15 years ago after working for the Milk Marketing Board and Milk Marque. During her time with Milk Marque she was in charge of the department dealing with the introduction of the automotive data collection department responsible for recording the number of litres collected and quality results from individual farms.

Paying tribute to her staff and union officials, she said: "I thoroughly enjoy dealing with farmers and all aspects of rural life which I believe are of paramount importance to Wales."

Her hobbies include spending time with her family, history, reading and walking.

[caption id="attachment_4381" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Farmers' Union of Wales South Pembrokeshire area officer Susie Morgan[/caption]

Farmers' Union of Wales South Pembrokeshire area officer Susie Morgan has been presented with the union's insurance services award for the most improved performance linked to business development.

Presenting the award at the union's annual general meeting in Aberystwyth, new president Emyr Jones said: "This award is associated with all aspects of an area officer’s work.

"We have seen dramatic changes to our insurance services delivery system during the last four years and this award reflects positive attitude to these changes.

"It reflects growth, collecting on time, administration, electronic trading, new business and customer care. Indeed, becoming a better area officer."

Susie, of Jeffreyston, Kilgetty, said: "Having worked with the FUW now for 10 years the recent changes within the insurance department mean we are no longer dependant on a single insurer.

"This has set me in good stead to service my customers with a wide range of products underwritten by a panel of specialist commercial, agricultural and personal lines insurance companies.

"Coming from a farming background I have pleasure in visiting farms to discuss their insurance needs and ensuring the cover provided is adequate for their needs. It is not just for farmers that we can offer competitive insurance but also cover for shops and offices, builders and contractors, small businesses, private and commercial vehicles, and home and contents."

In her spare time she enjoys helping on the farm and looking after her horses along with being secretary of her local show, Martletwy Show, which will be held on Wednesday August 24 at Carew Airfield, Sageston.

She would be pleased to discuss any aspect of insurance requirements with both new and existing customers. She can be contacted on 07968 076 180.

The decision of MEPs from across the political spectrum to support the "Dess Report" on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was described by new Farmers' Union of Wales president Emyr Jones today as a significant step forward.

However, in welcoming the report's general thrust and its emphasis on food production, Mr Jones expressed concern over proposals to introduce further "greening measures" into the regime.

"The significant emphasis on the need to retain the CAP budget and ensure continued food production in the EU is welcome, and demonstrates that MEPs are aware of the major challenges facing the world over the coming decades," he said. "However, unless we are careful ''greening'' will simply serve to limit food production.

"The FUW continues to argue that any greening measures should be focused on maximising production while minimising environmental impact in a way which actually benefits both the environment and farmers, for example by reducing input costs and increasing efficiency."

The report approved by the MEPs proposes that payments are subject to farmers choosing greening measures from a menu which could include lowering carbon emissions, capturing greenhouse gas emissions, buffer strips, field margins, hedges, maintaining permanent pasture, crop rotation and crop diversity plans.

The report also gives the go-ahead to capping of individual CAP payments made to farmers.

"The FUW has consulted widely with its membership over capping and the clear view is that the membership does not object to the principle so long as the number of employees or family members supported by farm businesses is taken into account," said Mr Jones.

The report also calls for suitable policy instruments to be put in place to support the dairy industry after the abolition of milk quotas in 2015.

"The FUW has long been opposed to the abolition of the quota regime because of the disruption and dangers which will accompany the move, not least increases in price volatility and the dangers of over-production without any safety net. It now seems that Europe has finally woken up to these.

The Commission's detailed legislative proposals on CAP reform are due to be released in October and must be drawn up in light of the contents of the report.

The Farmers' Union of Wales today reacted angrily to Welsh Government plans to appoint a panel to review the science in relation to a planned badger cull in north Pembrokeshire and other Welsh bTB measures.

Speaking outside the National Assembly after the announcement by Minister John Griffiths, FUW TB spokesman and vice president Brian Walters said: "The previous policy was based on firm scientific evidence which shows badger culling in north Pembrokeshire would significantly reduce TB in cattle.

"The latest scientific evidence, released in April this year, simply reinforces that previously policy.

"It shows a 31.5% reduction in confirmed TB herd incidences in English badger culling areas over the four and a half year period after badger culling ended, and a reduction of 37% in the six months to March 2011.

"Cattle farmers are being crippled by this disease, are incurring massive extra costs and are seeing their businesses locked down, particularly in north Pembrokeshire where harsh restrictions have been in place for well over a year.

"Yet we seem to be procrastinating over the major obstacle to disease eradication, which is the massive presence of TB in badgers."

According to the latest available statistics on TB in cattle and badgers across Wales, the rate of TB in badgers is around 32 times higher than it is in cattle.

Mr Walters added that, while the FUW fully supports the development of a practical and effective badger vaccine, no vaccine candidate had yet been shown to be worthwhile.

"Some people are giving out extremely misleading statements which suggest that we could be reducing TB incidences by vaccination as we speak.

"Important progress was made public in November last year when a paper on catching and injecting badgers with BCG vaccine was published.

"However, the scientists responsible made it clear that we did not yet know the effectiveness of vaccination as a tool by which to reduce TB incidences."

Mr Walters was referring to a briefing note, issued by the scientists responsible for the vaccine research, which stated that "...the field results cannot tell us the degree of vaccine efficacy...Several thousand badgers would need to be killed to determine the presence and severity of TB at detailed post-mortem examination...we do not know how deployment of the badger vaccine in the field would affect TB incidence in cattle...A large-scale vaccination field trial, at least on the scale of the RBCT, would be needed to scientifically assess the impact of badger vaccination on the incidence of disease in cattle".

Mr Walters said badger culling, therefore, remains the only tried and tested method of reducing TB herd outbreaks in an area where TB is present in badgers.

"While we have seen an encouraging reduction in cattle TB incidences over the past two years, the latest figures suggest that the disease may be on the rise again.

"In the past five years more than 44,000 cattle have been culled in Wales due to TB. At the disease rates present in the 1990s it would have taken between 50 and 100 years for us to reach this number.

"We cannot keep stalling matters in order to avoid difficult decisions in relation to culling badgers. We know badger culling works, and badgers are nowhere near being endangered.

"According to the experts, if we were to carry out a proper badger vaccine trial this would also involve culling thousands of badgers, but with no guarantee of a positive outcome."