Long term food strategy

"There will undoubtedly be pressures on global food supply in the future. With six million additional people every month in the world, globally agriculture will need to produce 50% more food by 2030," said Paul Temple, NFU Vice President in his address to a well-attended recent Brecon and Radnor NFU Cymru county meeting.

During the meeting, held at Hafod farm, Llanbadarn Fynydd, Paul Temple said, "The UK has been fortunate in that we have had a generation grow up without the fear of food shortage. In recent times, the supply of food has been completely taken for granted and last year’s global rice shortages certainly heightened fears of how tight food supply actually is."

He continued, "With this in mind, there is a need for the supermarkets to have a constructive approach to securing long term food supply. Beef and lamb prices have remained firm this year, aided by the weak currency making imports more expensive, with stable demand from retailers, but there is a need to secure this commitment if long term sustainability is to be achieved."

Estyn James, Brecon and Radnor NFU Cymru County Chairman said, "Whilst market prices have been encouraging, the introduction of compulsory electronic sheep identification will undoubtedly force many farmers in this county to significantly reduce sheep numbers. Farmers fail to see how this regulation will add any value to the end product yet it will cost a farming business a significant amount of time and money to comply with the requirements of the regulation.

"Input costs were extremely high last year, fertiliser and fuel costs rocketed, sending cash flows into chaos. The implementation of compulsory electronic sheep identification will seriously question the viability of many farming businesses."

Paul Temple said, "A big challenge is to encourage younger farmers to remain within the industry. This is a huge problem especially as many experienced and well renowned livestock producers threaten to leave the industry as a result of electronic identification and individual recording. It is important therefore for us as a Union to continue to fight against the implementation of this regulation."

NFU Cymru is currently carrying out a survey to determine the impact that the possible introduction of electronic identification (EID) and individual recording will have on the intentions of sheep producers to continue keeping sheep in the future. The questionnaire is available on the NFU Cymru website:www.nfu-cymru.org.uk. You can also get a copy sent to you by telephoning the Builth office: 01982 554200.