Pembrokeshire Farmers Press Local MP for Action

"The Government has a moral if not a legal responsibility to put right the damage caused by the Foot and Mouth outbreak," that was the clear message to Nick Ainger MP when he met recently with NFU Cymru members in Pembrokeshire.

Perkin Evans, NFU Cymru County Chairman said, "Foot and Mouth and Bluetongue could not have come at a worse time for farmers in Wales, we depend heavily on the export market and we export over £30million worth of lamb in the period between August to December each year. I impressed upon our local MP the importance of getting our export market fully opened as soon as possible."

Also discussed during the meeting were the proposals of a merger between First Milk and Milk Link co-operatives. Mr Evans said, "A merger would give a real boost to the dairy industry and will create an integrated co-operative processing some three billion litres a year, with 4,250 dairy farmer members. Such a move would give a large number of local dairy farmers the confidence and ability to invest in the long term future of the industry. This would also create economies of scale which could pave the way for investment in new products, transform the dynamics of the supply chain and offer consumers greater security of an on-going supply of top quality home-produced products."

Perkin Evans concluded, "We are grateful to Nick Ainger for his time and for giving us the opportunity to discuss some of the issues that are currently facing farmers in Pembrokeshire, particularly in light of the difficult last few months."