FUW hosts Breakfast Week events to promote Welsh food

Events ranging from a hearty breakfast in a Snowdonia farmhouse kitchen to a prestigious lunch at the House of Lords have been organised by the Farmers' Union of Wales to promote locally-produced Welsh food.

The various functions - starting with a Welsh buffet breakfast next Tuesday (January 15) at the National Assembly's Senedd building in Cardiff Bay - will support this month's Farmhouse Breakfast Week, an annual campaign organised since 2000 by the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA).

Between January 21 and 25 breakfasts will be held on a total of ten farms in Caernarfonshire, Denbighshire and Flintshire and another at Bryncir livestock martket's cafe.

The FUW's traditional House of Lords event will be held on Tuesday January 29. Both the Senedd and Lords functions are sponsored by the Welsh Government, Welsh red meat promotion agency Hybu Cig Cymru and E.ON.

During the Senedd breakfast deputy agriculture minister Alun Davies will launch Farming Connect's Agri-Academy 2013 which has two distinct elements - the Business & Innovation Programme and the Rural Leadership Programme. The latter is a joint collaboration with the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society.


The 12 candidates selected for last year’s Business & Innovation Programme and the 16 selected for the Rural Leadership Programme were nominated by Farming Connect stakeholder organisations including the FUW, NFU Cymru, Wales YFC, the Country Landowners Association and the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society.

FUW president Emyr Jones said the union is a keen supporter of HGCA's campaign which aims to raise awareness of the benefits of eating a healthy breakfast and demonstrate the rich variety of breakfast foods available in Wales and the rest of the UK.

"I am aware that in the UK one in four people skip breakfast during the week and as many as one in six adults never eat breakfast even though experts claim it is the most important meal of the day and plays a key role in helping tackle obesity.

"The NHS also says eating breakfast has long term health benefits and can reduce obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.

"The theme for HGCA's campaign 'Shake Up Your Wake Up' encourages us to make small changes to our morning routine to make sure you have time for breakfast every day!

"It is all about showcasing the most important meal of the day in a bid to raise awareness of the health and nutritional benefits of breakfast and the huge variety of top quality farm produce available in Wales - ranging from bacon, sausages and eggs to speciality dairy products, breads and cereals."