Nerys Evans and Cefin Campbell, Plaid Cymru Members of the Senedd for Sir Gaerfyrddin (Carmarthenshire), met representatives from the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) last week(Friday, 10 July) at Gurnos, the family farm of the Union’s President, Ian Rickman, near Llandeilo.
Since being elected as the largest party in the Senedd in the election in May this year, the Welsh Government led by Plaid Cymru have already introduced several policies that will address the challenges farmers face, and which were called for by agricultural unions and the wider sector.
At the beginning of June, Llŷr Gruffydd MS, the Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability, announced that John Davies, a beef and sheep farmer from the Brecon area and former President of NFU Wales, would chair a review of paperwork that farmers and agents face.
Two weeks ago, Mr Gruffudd announced that the Welsh Government would also provide low interest loans of up to £1,000,000 for farmers in Wales to invest in – amongst other things – improving agricultural buildings, improving energy efficiency and production, or buying new equipment.
Speaking following the visit in her constituency, Nerys Evans MS, a former FUW board member for 7 years, said:
“During the Senedd election earlier this year – and at the heart of our plan for our first hundred days in government – we committed to start work immediately to deal with the challenges facing the agricultural sector.
“From providing low interest loans to enable farms to improve their efficiency to starting the work of finding ways to cut paperwork in the sector, we are already making that happen. I’m looking forward to seeing the impact this government will have over the next few years.”
Ian Rickman, President of the FUW, said:
“Welsh farmers are facing an extremely challenging period at the moment, with a number of complex issues putting pressure on the sector – from adapting to the Sustainable Farming Scheme and the far-reaching expectations of the agricultural pollution regulations, to the ongoing impact of bovine TB on the emotional and financial well-being of our farmers.
“It was therefore a great pleasure to welcome Nerys and Cefin to the Gurnos and have the opportunity to discuss these key issues, as well as to detail some of the policies that the new Government has already announced to support the sector and give more certainty to Welsh farmers.”
