FUW members grill rural affairs minister during farm visit
Welsh farmers need the support of the public and the public purse if they are to manage their land to meet the effect of climate change, the Assembly’s rural affairs minister Elin Jones said today.
Fielding questions from Farmers’ Union of Wales and FWAG Cymru members on a Meirionnydd farm overlooking the picturesque Mawddach estuary, Ms Jones was asked about the Assembly’s proposed Glastir scheme which will replace agri-environment schemes such as Tir Mynydd.
"There is a requirement to look again at such schemes to make them more responsive to CAP demands. There is a need to look more closely at other issues than previously such as water management and climate change," she said.
"It is not about what a visual landscape looks like any longer. It’s about issues like the carbon content of our soil in upland Wales and retaining those soils is important when talking about climate change.
"Farmers are going to be actively involved in those discussions. I have always thought that if society wants a landowner to manage his land in such a way it is right that the public contribute financially to that.
"That is a strong argument why there needs to be public and public financial support for land management and you must remember my decision to introduce Glastir was taken before Alistair Darling decided to bail out the banks."
Ms Jones added that Tir Mynydd will continue to be paid in 2010 and 2011. "I believe in having a long transition period before Glastir is introduced," she told her 140-strong audience who enjoyed a buffet lunch of lamb supplied by the hosts, FUW’s new county chairman Robert Wynne Evans and his family, of Sylvain Farm, Barmouth.
Dealing with questions on bovine TB, she said eradication of the disease is a long-term aspiration and she had decided to test all cattle herds in Wales annually.
"I accept it is an additional burden on farmers but the EC is particularly keen to stress managing TB is no longer an option - we must eradicate it."
Responding to questions about the Assembly’s scheme for new entrants into farming, the minister agreed the maximum £15,000 grant available was not enough to buy a farm but it could help them to enter into a family partnership.
"I think it will stimulate young people into believing Government and their own family want them to stay in farming."
On the controversial question of electronic identification of sheep (EID), Ms Jones said she was not convinced that it was necessary for the control of disease but the EC and other big member states had lost patience with the UK and Ireland attempts to delay its introduction.
"So, as the minister in Wales, I have stepped over the divide as I have no choice other than to implement this in Wales and because I have been working with the farming unions in resisting this we have to try and achieve some of the concessions that may have been available earlier."
NOTE TO EDITORS: Captions for three pictures attached - 1 From left, Robert Wynne Evans, his father Glyn and Elin Jones; 2 From left, Elin Jones, FWAG Cymru chairman and former FUW Meirionnydd county chairman Alun Edwards and Robert Wynne Evans; 3 Elin Jones (second from right) tucks into her Welsh lamburger with, from left, FUW’s Dolgellau office staff Bethan Jones, Bethan Roberts and Carys Thomas.
