Farmer tells AM of Brexit fears during visit to farm
A FOURTH generation farmer has highlighted why his industry matters when he met Ogmore AM and Welsh Government Minister Huw IrrancaDavies to raise concerns.
Will Howells has taken over his grandfather’s 143 hectare holding, Baiden Farm in Cefn Cribwr, near Bridgend, which includes owned and rented land, runs 16 cattle and 600 ewes.
The family has also in- vested in two Gaia wind turbines on the farm which were installed in 2014 and 2015 and the farm is in the Glastir Entry and Advanced scheme.
Following the visit the Ogmore AM said: “My thanks to Will and his family for spending time showing me the farm. I was pleased to see how successful they had been in diversifying their business, involving contracted-out services, renewable energy generation alongside the traditional rearing of sheep and cattle.
“We discussed many aspects of modern farming, and I’m glad to see Will and the FUW farming union demanding that Wales does not lose out in powers or funding because of Brexit.”
Will said: “I would like to thank Huw IrrancaDavies AM for joining us here at Baiden Farm and listening to our concerns about the future of our industry. We discussed many farming issues such as funding for the future, the next generation of farmers and how we can attract more young people to take up farming, bovine TB and agri-environmental schemes.
“It is very important that the public and politi- cians, understand the implications if farming gets a bad deal after we leave the EU and what is likely to happen to food security, our rural economy and way of life here in Wales.”
Rachel Saunders, the FUW’s Glamorgan CEO said: “We know that the UK Government has said that it will match the current EU budget that supports farming and our rural economies, but how that money gets to Wales and how it is managed has not been determined. That of course is a real problem for our farmers like Will and his family, because they can’t plan for the future.
“The FUW is now actively lobbying for the money to be assigned from the UK Government to Wales for agriculture and we really appreciated being able to raise this with Huw Irranca-Davies here on the farm.”