The Welsh government has held a "weather summit" to minimise future impacts on the farming industry in a move described as an important step in taking action.
The summit was held at the Royal Welsh Show in a bid to minimise the current and future impacts of the weather on Wales’ agriculture industry.
It follows a dire warning issued by the Environmental Audit Committee highlighting how sustained heatwaves will be the "summer norm by 2040s" making adaptation to them "a matter of life and death".
The heatwave has also led to a number of extreme weather derogations granted by Welsh government following requests by farmers.
The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) described the weather summit an "important step". The event was chaired by Welsh government's Cabinet Secretary, Lesley Griffiths and attended by farming organisations.
FUW President, Glyn Roberts said: “We had called for this summit to take place in early July.
“This was therefore a welcome next step, and a number of further actions which could be taken were discussed at the meeting.
“In particular, we emphasised the need for decisive action to be taken as soon as possible in terms of the relaxation of rules and other measures, as every day that goes by farmers are struggling to provide water for livestock and essential winter fodder is being used up on farms across Wales,” Mr Roberts said.
The lack of rain and sustained heat has led to slow grass growth, affecting hay and silage yields.
The FUW President said that there were a number of steps that the union had urged Welsh government to look into, with a view to decisions and announcements being made over the coming days.
“Over the past month we have provided details to Welsh government of the problems being faced by farmers around Wales, as well as steps which could be taken by government to help the situation,” Mr Roberts added.
“We welcome the fact that some of these steps have been taken, but had requested this meeting in order to ensure all possible actions could be properly explored.”
“Now that that has finally happened we expect to see far more progress.”
