Welsh farming union set out industry concerns to Wales’ new first minister and cabinet secretary
Welsh farming union NFU Cymru has met with Wales’ new first minister, Vaughan Gething MS, and the cabinet secretary for climate change and rural affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies MS.
Yesterday’s (26 March) meeting, arranged following an urgent request from NFU Cymru last week, was an early opportunity to set out the union’s key ambitions and concerns for an industry under a huge amount of pressure.
NFU Cymru president, Aled Jones, who attended the meeting with NFU Cymru deputy president, Abi Reader, said: “During the meeting, we presented the first minister and cabinet secretary with our comprehensive Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) consultation response and raised a number of our key policy asks. These included concerns around the current SFS proposals, as well as other issues affecting the sector.
“We highlighted how the coming together of these factors and the emotional and financial stresses which accompanies them has contributed to a sense of anxiety and indeed turmoil in our rural communities.”
Jones added that the meeting was constructive. “We now look to the new first minister and cabinet secretary to consider our asks,” he said. “At such a pivotal time in the design of the SFS we have asked the cabinet secretary to commit to leading a series of meetings with ourselves to ensure we can get a scheme that delivers for Welsh farming and Welsh government.”
The NFU Cymru president said Welsh farmers need stability, now more than ever. “They need stability to invest in their businesses, to invest in efficiency gains and in the environment,” he said. “This is why we are once again urging Welsh government to ensure that there is a strong stability element in the final SFS and that the universal actions are truly practical and achievable for all farm types, sectors and locations.”
Jones concluded: “By working together, we are confident that we can deliver for the future of our rural communities, maintain and uphold our high standards of food production, properly recognise the strategic importance of domestic primary production and the £8.1 billion food and drink sector it underpins, ensure a secure supply of climate friendly, healthy, affordable food, as well as looking after our cherished environment.”
