FUW Staff Denbighshire and Flintshire branch with Owen Slaymaker award.

Farmers' Union of Wales milk and dairy produce committee chairman Eifion Huws today expressed strong disappointment at Tesco's announcement that it will increase its base milk price to farmers by just 0.75 per cent.

"Dairy farmers had been expecting a rise from their average of 24-25p per litre to over 30p before Christmas but I am fuming that this now looks totally out of hand," said Mr Huws, an Anglesey dairy farmer.

He was also annoyed about Tesco's intention to pay 28.75ppl from October 1 to March 31 for those farmers signed up to Promar Farm Business Account costings but those not signed up will receive only 28.25p.

"As other companies were waiting for Tesco to announce its price first, many farmers were staying in the industry thinking they would get 30p or over before Christmas. I have been saying all along that this would not be the case and I have been proved right.

"This will not give the industry any confidence at all. I also think it's unfair for Tesco to ask farmers to sign up to Promar when there are other companies and businesses that can give the same service and some of them charge cheaper rates.

"I think it is wrong to request producers to sign up to one specific company or, in effect, receive a price cut. I think it is very unfair and rather heavy-handed."

Yesterday, Tesco announced a 14.1 per cent increase in group sales to £28.1bn for the first-half of this year with a pre-tax profit of £1,453m - up 10.3 per cent on the same period last year.

Farmers' Union of Wales deputy president Emyr Jones today described the establishment of the Euro-Sterling exchange rate for 2008 Single Payments as good news for Welsh farmers.

The rate has just been set at €1=£0.7903, compared with rates of €1=£0.6968 and €1=£0.6777 in 2007 and 2006 respectively.

"The 2008 exchange rate represents an increase in Single Payment receipts of 13.4 per cent, which will go a significant way towards offsetting the increase in production costs experienced in the past 12 months," said Mr Jones.

"It will also help make up the deficits associated with increases in modulation and inflation. The fact that the pound has remained relatively weak against the Euro over the past six months has also helped make our exports more competitive," added Mr Jones

However, Mr Jones warned that a beneficial exchange rate should not be interpreted as an increase in farm incomes.

"On-farm production costs have rocketed over the past year due to rises in fuel, feed, and fertiliser costs, not to mention sky-high energy bills, and the situation has been exacerbated by this year''s poor harvest," he adde

Welsh MEP Jill Evans was provided with a demonstration of the controversial sheep and goats' electronic identification (EID) technology
on Friday, September 26 on Bryncelynog Farm, near Trawsfynydd.

Farmer and FUW member Dylan Huws is currently piloting EID on his large flock of Welsh Mountain sheep at their farm in the Prysor Valley.

The visit, arranged by Merionethshire County Executive Officer Huw Jones, gave Ms Evans the opportunity to see the technology at work at
first hand.

Earlier this month the Plaid MEP joined forces with MEPs from across the political spectrum to launch a written declaration in the European

Parliament in a bid to amend EC plans for compulsory electronic tagging of sheep.

If the declaration is signed by a majority of MEPs within three months, it will be recorded in the official minutes of the EU Parliament and
communicated to other relevant EU institutions.

Speaking at the farm, the FUW's livestock, wool, and marts committee chairman Aeron Prysor Jones said: "Ms Evans got to see first hand today the problems that can accompany this technology, as Dylan encountered serious problems in getting his electronic reader to pick up a single tag.

"This issue has prompted the union to launch an online petition on the Prime Minister's website. The petition can be found at: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/list/open?cat=692.

"Compulsory EID will do little other than increase the money and time spent on rearing sheep. The EC's obsession with introducing the
technology goes completely against their own commitment to reducing red tape.

"We therefore fully support the work of Jill Evans and other MEPs in their fight against this ridiculous imposition, and we would encourage all MEPs to sign up to the declaration"

Ms Evans said: "Seeing the technology at work has reinforced my views that this scheme is unworkable and unnecessary.

"As we saw today, the technology used for EID is temperamental to say the least, and can have major flaws. If such problems can occur with just
a handful of sheep, how on earth can the system work with a whole flock?

"Other trials have also shown difficulties operating the system in different weather conditions which would prove particularly more challenging for
farmers in Wales.

"Farmers and farming unions are telling me quite clearly that they are totally opposed to this plan for compulsory electronic tagging. For the 41
per cent of farms in Wales that are sheep producers, the scheme would be costly to implement and would simply be impractical.

"Across Wales and the UK there is both Government and cross-party support for abandoning these proposals, and by getting MEPs to sign up
we hope to send a clear message to the Commission."

The red meat and dairy sectors will be discussed during the AGM of the Farmers' Union of Wales' Flintshire branch on Monday, October 6 at 7.30pm at Caerwys Institute, Caerwys, near Mold.

Hybu Cig Cymru chief executive Gwyn Howells will concentrate on red meat marketing including the various challenges, relationships with supermarkets and research and development while Dairy Co Welsh board member Trevor Lloyd will discuss the dairy sector including farm-gate prices, the market, product development and DairyCo's role.

Following the speakers' addresses there will be a question and answer session.

The meeting will be chaired by county president John Worthington and will include an annual report from the county chairman Mr D L Davies on the union's work and activities within Flintshire.

"All members are welcome, and with a wealth of experience in our two guest speakers, it promises to be both an interesting and informative evening," Mr Davies said.

THE Farmers' Union of Wales warned today that decisions following a Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) consultation on a review of land management must ensure upland farmers do not lose out financially.

"Our big concern is the impact this long-awaited consultation document could have on those 10,300 farmers currently receiving Tir Mynydd assistance within the Less Favoured Area - which covers 79 per cent of Wales," said FUW senior policy officer Rhian Nowell-Phillips following the launch of the consultation document today.

The consultation, "Sustaining the Land", is part a review of programmes under Axis II of the Wales Rural Development Plan. Axis II covers all land management programmes, agri-environmental schemes including Tir Gofal, woodland grants and Tir Mynydd.

It lists three options - modifying existing schemes including Tir Mynydd; introducing a new, two-tier pan-Wales scheme developed from Tir Mynydd with an element targeting carbon management and water quality issues; and introducing a new fully integrated agri-environment approach without Tir Mynydd.

"We must ensure that farmers now receiving Tir Mynydd assistance will not lose out as that scheme was intended to compensate them for the additional difficulty of farming in the uplands," said Ms Nowell-Phillips.

"Whatever scheme or schemes are eventually put in place we must not increase the level of land abandonment in the uplands. We will now spend the next 12 weeks consulting our members across Wales for their views," she added.

WAG also intends to hold discussion meetings with farmers and other stakeholders as part of the process. Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones said the consultation was a first step in the process of developing a new framework of programmes under Axis II.

"The Assembly Government is keen to promote schemes under Axis II that meet public concerns on climate change mitigation whilst ensuring farmers are able to continue to manage land for their purpose of food production and maintaining the traditional Welsh family farm," added Ms Jones.

The consultation will run until December 19 and details of the dates and venues of the public meetings will be placed at: http:/new.wales.gov.uk/consultations

Welsh sheep farmers are complaining that the British Wool Marketing Board's intention to offer bonus payments for deliveries of more than 4,000 kilogrammes of wool would undermine confidence in the board.

Members of the Farmers' Union of Wales' livestock, wool and marts committee stressed bonus payments were fundamentally wrong because they contradicted the board's main object of ensuring the same standard prices for all producers regardless of the volume of wool delivered.

The committee was unanimously opposed to the board's intention to make additional payments of between 4 and 10p per kg to producers delivering more than 4,000 kg in the 2008/9 season.

Members instructed chairman Aeron Prysor Jones to write to the board's chief executive Ian Hartley to complain that consultation with members and producers regarding the intention to make such bonus payments had been negligible.

"The committee felt this undermined producers' confidence in the board at a time when it was attempting to encourage producers to remain loyal and not turn to other buyers," Mr Jones said today.

The Farmers' Union of Wales today expressed extreme concern that the European Commission's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) health check failed to address the issue of food security at such a critical time.

In evidence to the Welsh Assembly's European and external affairs committee, the FUW stated: "The CAP, by design, provides a framework that allows Europe to react to the imminent challenges that growing populations, global warming, rising sea levels, and peak oil represent in terms of food security."

But, the union complained, CAP-related legislative proposals published by the Commission in May used the word food only a handful of times and never in the context of food security.

Addressing the committee in Cardiff, FUW president Gareth Vaughan said the union's written evidence was the democratically established views of members collated over the past year during regular consultation with its 12 county branches.

"Those members, and the farming industry as a whole, constitute an essential part of the fabric of our society here in Wales, and without them we would not have such a range of unique and valuable assets.

"At the core of that fabric is the traditional Welsh family farm, which the FUW was established more than 50 years ago to protect. But I would like to emphasise that, while we welcome some of the developments that have occurred in terms of the CAP health check, we believe an opportunity has been missed.

"Without wishing to appear to be scaremongering, I believe that we are at a crossroads in terms of the impact that decisions taken today will have on future generations.

"The success of the CAP in providing an abundance of food has led to the embedding in some quarters of apathy regarding food security.

"With all the challenges that the world will face over the coming decades - in terms of oil supplies, global warming, rising populations, and the like - we should have liked to have seen the European Commission reacting more positively to the critical issues that will shape the future of upcoming generations.

"We have recently seen the devastating repercussions that short-sighted decisions made by financial institutes both here and in the US have had throughout the world.

"There is a real danger of far worse repercussions if the European Commission do not change course in the coming years and bring the CAP back to its core purpose, which was to look after the future security of Europe's peoples."

DENBIGH and Flint branches of the Farmers' Union of Wales have arranged a meeting to discuss Bluetongue and the importance of vaccinating and protecting animals against the BTV8 strain.

"It is important that all FUW members understand the implications that will arise should further infected animals be imported to the country from Europe," said FUW county executive officer Gareth Wyn Jones.

A member of the Welsh Chief Veterinary Officer's department and FUW director of agricultural policy Dr Nick Fenwick will be in attendance to deliver an update and discuss the latest situation.

All members are urged to attend this special meeting held at Llysfasi College, Ruthin, next Wednesday (October 1) at 2pm.

Pembrokeshire arable farmer Bryn Rees and his son Phil are currently engaged in a "salvage operation" of their weather-hit harvest as they face the extra costs of bringing in and drying their crops following continuous wet weather for several weeks.

Rain and the lack of sunshine have prolonged this year's grim harvest with many farmers forced to combine crops at far higher moisture contents than usual, said Bryn, who represents the county on the the Farmers' Union of Wales farm tourism and diversification committee.

He and Phil have only been able to harvest about one-third of the 150 acres of barley and wheat and 30 acres of maize on their mixed farm near Haverfordwest.

"We've had one wet day after another here for weeks until earlier this week so it's only now that we can have a clear run in what can only be described as a salvage operation. Ideally, we will need five to six dry days to make any real impact on our harvest.

"But whatever the weather we are going to have to use the gas-guzzling drying machine for some four weeks. Together with the huge increase in fuel costs for the combine and baler we are already looking to much poorer returns than last year," said Bryn, of Creampots, Broad Haven.

He gave a lukewarm welcome to the temporary exemption from the cross compliance requirement restricting vehicles on waterlogged soil in Wales which is aimed at helping farmers to complete their harvest.

Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones announced the temporary exemption, granted because of the exceptional weather conditions, will last until 4 October, 2008, subject to review.

She agreed the recent weather conditions, with rainfall far and above average for this time of year, are creating problems for farmers, particularly those harvesting crops.