Fresh hope for future of mart
WHILST 13 might be considered to be an unlucky date, it was at NFU Cymru’s Carmarthenshire County Conference on Wednesday, January 13, that Emlyn Dole, leader of Carmarthenshire Council, announced that the authority had taken back control of Carmarthen Livestock Mart and that expressions of interest are invited from parties interested in running the mart.
This was welcome news indeed. The sight of one of the premier livestock trading facilities in Wales, and a community hub in its own right, standing empty and unused dampened spirits on any journey past the Nantyci site.
Let’s hope that Carmarthenshire Council and any future tenant/tenants can implement an arrangement sustainable for all parties.
Never again should the county town of Carmarthenshire, a county renowned for its agricultural history and heritage, be without an outward-looking and forwardthinking livestock mart.
One of Benjamin Franklin’s most well-known quotes is ‘Out of adversity comes opportunity’. This is an opportunity to ensure that the Nantyci facility is truly a 21st Century mart used to its maximum capacity.
I sincerely hope that the future mart operator will consider informed purchasing to be one of the keys to success, with as much information as possible made available utilising technology to facilitate this.
As we celebrate the ‘taking back control’ that has happened at one facility that’s a part of the process of earning a living from food production, we can only look on in disbelief at the sheer waste, the likely potential loss of customers and the expensive implications of the shambles at ports.
Where weeks ago products moved freely to established customers and partners on the Continent, we now hear of fresh products rotting in containers at ports because of the mishandled bureaucracy.
There are numerous reports of lorries waiting for days on end, errors in paperwork and food heading to landfill.
There is increasing unrest. There is already a commitment from the UK Government to compensate businesses in the fisheries sector for losses resulting from the adverse effects of leaving the EU’S customs union.
Surely, there will be pressure on the UK Government to compensate other sectors that are similarly impacted in the same way. The British Meat Processors Association is already calling for such measures. Meanwhile, there are little or no checks currently at UK ports and, arguably, the Northern Ireland back door is still left open.
It is more than likely that eventually those added cost burdens will find their way back up the supply chain, only to manifest themselves in the rings and pens at places such as Carmarthen livestock market and others.