If you see anything suspicious, contact the police

I MUST start by wishing you all a happy new year. I don’t think any of us thought we would be starting 2021 back in lockdown, but I do hope you all managed to have a good Christmas and enjoyed some down time. While there is a light at the end of the tunnel, with vaccine number three being approved, it is still vital that we do our bit to help slow the spread of this virus. While I know we all hoped the new year would be a better one, we have to stay positive and look forward to being able to get together again soon, in the hopefully not too distant future.

I know many of you reading this will now be juggling working from home while trying to home school your children, a task I don’t envy. However, there has never been a better time to teach your children about where their food comes from and how vital farmers are to the smoothrunning of the supply chain.

Farmers here in Wales produce food to some of the highest animal health and welfare standards in the world, all while enhancing and protecting the environment. We must let the future generations of farmers and consumers know about the work we do. The NFU Education team has put together some fantastic resources to help with your home schooling around the topic of agriculture, that are available online, and are linked with the Welsh curriculum. You will also find some brilliant resources from #lockdownlearning. The project, which was developed by the NFU and the team of farmers at Eatfarmnow, provides exciting educational farming activities for children while they are away from school, helping to build their knowledge of science and technology alongside learning all about food production. You can find out more by visiting the NFU Cymru website.

Sadly, we have been informed of several agricultural thefts over the past few weeks with quad bikes and farm machinery stolen from farms. It seems that despite the lockdown restrictions, thieves are still preying on farmers and stealing, or attempting to steal, quad bikes and ATVS, which are vital to our daily work.

I urge you all to take all possible precautions and make your buildings, fields and vehicles safe and secure. Do not give these thieves any help by leaving keys in the ignition, even if you are only stepping away briefly. Make sure you keep gates to yards closed and consider investing in a bespoke security device or padlock and chain. Also consider installing trackers devices on all your farm vehicles as this can assist the police with locating the stolen items once it has left the farm.

If you do see anything suspicious, no matter how small you may think it is, please contact Dyfed-powys Police by ringing 101. If you believe a crime to be in progress do not hesitate to call 999. Do not attempt to tackle the thieves on your own.