Farmers doing their bit to avoid river pollution

Spring is in the air and I am pleased to report my ribs seem to be on the mend and I’m feeling a lot better.

The sun has been shining and the weather has been warmer, which I’m sure has made lambing a lot easier for many you this year.

Since the beginning of the year there has been some pollution incidents, which included slurry run-off on farms in Wales, and National Resource Wales has raised this issue with us as farmer representatives.

We don’t condone pollution incidents but highlighted that there are 16,000 farms covering 80% of the land mass in Wales to bring the issue into perspective.

Wet conditions are always going to put pressure on slurry stores when ground conditions don’t allow spreading, so it is important that we address these issues and seek help and advice before problems occur.

When spreading, it is important to check the weather forecast because a deluge of rain falling a day or two after spreading can cause run-off into streams.

Using organisations like Farming Connect can be worthwhile to find ways of mitigating problems. Examples include stream side corridors or avoiding sloping fields in difficult conditions.

It may be worthwhile for grassland and discussion groups to have it as an item for their winter programmes which help share best practice – very often farmer experience can be the best advice.

I attended the Welsh Government Taste Wales food event held at the Celtic Manor recently. This included a conference and various food producers from across Wales had an area to promote their goods.

There were large and small producers represented and they had an opportunity to meet buyers from all corners of the world, including China and Canada.

The conference included presen- tations from Adam Leyland, editor of the Grocer magazine, and a number of presentations from Kantar Worldpanel, an organisation that gathers statistics about food purchasing and eating habits.

Christine Tacon, the Grocery Code adjudicator, Andy Richardson, chair of the Welsh Government’s Welsh Food and Drink Panel, and Alana Spencer, who won last year’s TV programme The Apprentice, also spoke.

The importance of developing new export markets for Welsh food and drink in the coming years is going to be vital and I applaud the Welsh Government for this event. I was told that there were more than 1,000 meetings between Welsh producers and buyers during the event, which is really encouraging for the future.

You will all be aware, I’m sure, of the news that Parliament voted in favour of holding an early general election on June 8. Despite previous promises from Prime Minister Theresa May that the next one wouldn’t be until 2020, on April 18 she called for the election and the following day MPs in the House of Commons approved the motion.

The Prime Minister has commented on the need for unity at Westminster in order to make a success of Brexit. I suspect this is a political move from the PM, based on record polling figures for the Tories and the slim majority which they have in the Commons.

Clearly, Brexit will be the main focus of the campaign, but there are many other issues affecting farmers and rural communities across Wales.

NFU Cymru will ensure that these issues are communicated clearly during the campaign and will be seeking commitments from each party’s candidates. Be assured NFU Cymru will be heard loud and clear throughout this campaign.