Time for fresh approach - CCW chairman
"The current emphasis on species and habitats has shaped many environmental processes that farmers have to engage with, and these processes can be cumbersome and time-consuming and can have uncertain benefits. It is time to scale up our efforts with a fresh approach and we have the opportunity for this with the new Living Wales document," said Morgan Parry during NFU Cymru’s recent Council meeting at Builth Wells.
The newly appointed Chairman of the Countryside Council for Wales, during his keynote speech, spoke of how the current approaches had failed to reach targets and goals and how Welsh farmers would be central to the success of the new Living Wales consultation, published last week by the Welsh Assembly Government.
Morgan Parry said, "I hope to see the interests of Welsh farmers at the heart of the Living Wales consultation. A document which aims to bring a new integrated approach to the management of the environment, reflecting the complexity of environment systems, the value of services provided to society, the pressures posed by climate change and natural capacity limits.
"We have challenging times ahead in terms of budget restraints, combined with a huge on-going task of sustainable land management and we cannot do this alone, it is crucial that we galvanise wide support from land owners and farmers and organisations such as NFU Cymru to protect our environment."
In response to the plea for industry commitment, NFU Cymru President, Ed Bailey said, "For thousands of years agriculture has been central to ecosystems and farmers understand them better than anyone, we are all aware that healthy ecosystems in turn underpin the economic success of Wales, but if farming is not viable and farmers become under financial pressure this will become a very different story and we could see a decline in this good work.
"It is fundamental that CCW communicate with industry and then presents our views to the Welsh Assembly Government to ensure the voices of Welsh farmers are represented so that the good work that farmers do for the environment can continue for many more thousands of years."
