With the dust still settling after the Senedd Elections results this evening (Friday 8 May), no one party has emerged with a majority.
Following the results of the vote, NFU Cymru President Abi Reader has reiterated the union’s commitment to working with the new government and all Members of the Senedd from across the chamber to deliver on members’ priorities, ambitions that will boost Wales’ economy and food security, whilst also delivering for the environment.
Defining period
NFU Cymru President Abi Reader said: “This round of elections to Cardiff Bay coincides with what is set to be a defining period for the farming industry.
Welsh farmers have bold ambitions for their businesses and the wider industry - and our members’ aspiration is to realise the opportunities that lay ahead of us.
To enable this, we need the new Senedd and the new Welsh Government to show equal ambition and to play their part in assisting the industry to fulfil its potential.
Untapped potential
“NFU Cymru is ready to work with the new Welsh Government and Senedd to deliver on our members’ priorities.”
Abi Reader, NFU Cymru President.
“Backing Welsh agriculture delivers multiple benefits for wider Wales. For example, the Welsh food and drink sector, which is fundamentally underpinned by the safe, high quality produce from Welsh farms, is one of this country’s finest assets and generates a turnover of more than £10 billion per year.
Despite the fantastic growth in recent years, there remains further untapped potential to sustainably grow the Welsh food and drink sector’s success story. Conflict in the Middle East has once again highlighted the importance of a strong domestic food production base.
To this end, NFU Cymru is seeking to work with the next Welsh Government on the development of a comprehensive farm to fork strategy to secure the continued supply of safe, high quality and affordable food for our nation.
Vital stability to Welsh farming
“Integral to seizing the opportunities that lay ahead of us is the provision of a ring-fenced, multi-annual budget for Welsh agriculture.
It’s imperative that this new budget is adjusted for inflation and maintains the 70:30 split between the universal and optional and collaborative layers of the Sustainable Farming Scheme, providing vital stability to Welsh farming.
We ask the next Welsh Government to work with us to evolve the Sustainable Farming Scheme to ensure it delivers for all sectors and all areas of Wales.
Urgent need
“Away from the exciting opportunities to be capitalised upon there are, inevitably, existing areas where we believe Members of Senedd and the Welsh Government should enact change.
One of our members’ long-standing concerns remains the Control Agricultural Pollution Regulations, which have served as a blunt and inefficient instrument burdening farmers with high costs and unintended consequences for the environment.
Moreover, NFU Cymru is calling for a long-overdue independent review of the wider regulatory burden of red-tape and bureaucracy.
“A similarly long-term issue requiring government attention is bovine TB and its grip on Welsh herds and farming families.
There is an urgent need for a step change in how we tackle this disease and it is essential that we have a refreshed strategy that addresses the disease wherever it exists, addressing the reservoir of disease in wildlife and not just exclusively in cattle.
“NFU Cymru is ready to work with the new Welsh Government and Senedd to deliver on our members’ priorities.”
