Wales Farmer February 2013 NEWS


Minister’s vision of tomorrow’s agriculture


WALES is committed to the vision of astrong, sustainable agricultural industry, the deputy min- ister for agriculture told a


national forum. Alun Davies attended the


Westminster Food and Nutrition Forum to discuss the next steps forCommon Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform. Speaking at the event the


deputy minister said: “In Wales we arecommitted to the vision of an agricultural industry thatis strong, sustainableand capable of supporting vibrant rural com- munities across Wales,providing jobs and growth while support- ing the environmental and sus- tainableresponsibilities. “Asfar afood and nutrition is concerned we cannot just look at farming. We have to consider the supplychain too.Fromfarmto fork,weoften say.” Mr Davies reiterated his


strong position on CAP and his commitment to working con- structively with ministers in London and counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland to deliveraviableoutcome for the UK and forWales. He said: “Ensuring farmers in


Wales have the support they need is important to me.The Welsh


By Farmer reporter


Government has been an active participant in talks aimed at agreeing afair and balanced EU budget. “I will continue to ensurethat


the needs of rural Wales are heardwheneverand wherever thesedecisions aretaken. “The Welsh Government is


determined thatthe next CAP is good forWelsh farmers,good for rural Wales and good forWelsh consumers.This is too important to risk by playing games with a regressive


and


approach.” Mr Davies’ keymessage to the


forum wasthe need forafairer CAP,meaning proper decision- making in Wales forWelsh farm- ers and smooth transition for farmers from old payment mech- anism to newones. “Whatweneed in terms of


fairness is asmooth and pre- dictabletransition period that allows farmers to plan their cash- flow and adjust their business models,” he said. “Wedonot want to see pover-


ty,bankruptcy and land aban- donment. We want to see farmers whocan plan their busi- nesses,gofromstrength to strength and support their local community.”


Union focus on Welsh priorities


WELSH priorities forthe Common Agricultural Policy were up fordiscussion during a four-dayFarmers’ Union of Wales visit to Brussels . FUW officials met European Commission officials,Welsh MEPs,EUagriculturecommit- tee members and amember of EU Commissioner Dacian Ciolo’scabinet. FUW president Emyr Jones


said thatwhile the union still had major concerns about some areas of the newpolicy,some concerns appeared to have been taken on board. One such proposal is to


exempt farms which largelycom- prise permanent grassland from the requirement to grow multiple crops on areas categorised as ‘arable’ –which would include areas wherecrops such as rape arecultivated –provided the area concerned wasnomore than 20 hectares. “This is just one of the pro-


posals being discussed in order to address concerns raised by the FUW with the commission and parliament as long as 18 months ago,”said Mr Jones.


“Such aconcession would


allowthose whorelyoncultivat- ing crops fortheir ownuse to continue doing so,therebyhelp- ing farms to remain efficient and reduce CO2, feed and transport costs,while also ensuring that the biodiversity benefits of growing crops arenot lost.” Mr Jones also warned thatthe


threatofa reduced real terms CAP budget had to be recog- nised. “It is essential that bureaucracy is reduced under the futureCAP,” he said. “Even the freezing of the CAP


budget in nominal terms would mean areal terms reduction, yet manyofthe draft proposals would mean increased costs for farmers and devolved adminis- trations. “It would be whollyunaccept-


able to ask farmers and the Welsh Government to deal with morecostlyrules and bureaucra- cy while delivering areduced budget, and anyperceivedbene- fits in terms of cuts to the EU budget could in fact be lost through administrative costs for the industry and the implement- ing authorities.”


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9 ■ Strong, sustainable rural communities aim in CAP reform


TOP LEVEL MEETING: 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 (see story below).


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