Farmers’ Union of Wales deputy president Emyr Jones was elected as the union’s president during a meeting of its grand council in Aberystwyth today (Friday, June 17).
A former vice president of the union, Mr Jones, 63, was brought up on the family farm, Rhiwaedog, Rhosygwaliau, Bala, which extends to 356 acres and carries 60 suckler cows and 800 sheep.
Speaking after his election, Mr Jones said: ’I am proud to have been chosen to lead the FUW whose principles I strongly believe in and that is why I am a loyal member. In my new role I want to ensure that our hills and valleys are alive with the sound of families going about their business on their farms.
’My dream is that someone from Wales is always there in Brussels fighting on our behalf for our future. I believe in the Welsh farming industry which I have been involved with all my life. I believe we need a strong union because farmers can’t ensure their future by themselves.’
He was the union’s Meirionnydd county chairman from 1998 to 2000 and for many years represented the county branch on the central hill farming and marginal land committee, of which he is currently vice chairman.
He was elected to represent North Wales on the union’s central finance and organisation committee in June 2000, a vice president in June 2002 and deputy president in 2003.
He is a prominent member of a number of organisations including the Welsh Mountain Sheep Society, the Welsh Black Cattle Society, and is a director of the Meirionnydd County Show.
He is also a former chairman of Meirionnydd Grassland Society.
His contribution to agriculture was recognised in 1995 when he became an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies and received the honour of Fellow in 2001.
His family farm has won several prizes over the years including the British Grassland Society’s national grassland management competition in 2008, the Royal Welsh Show Farm Buildings and Facilities Award and the Snowdonia National Park Society Farming and Landscape Award.
The family has hosted several farm visits over the years by various organisations and societies. Mr Jones also devotes a great deal of time to community life, being a former chairman of the community council.
He is involved with his local show at Llangower and is also a deacon at his local chapel. He is passionately committed to the principles on which the FUW was established.
The new deputy president is Glyn Roberts, Dylasau Uchaf, Padog, Betws-Y-Coed, Conwy, who steps up from vice president.
In 1983 Mr Roberts secured the tenancy of Dylasau Uchaf, a 350-acre farm owned by the National Trust.
Since 2004 he has been one of the union’s three vice presidents.
