As auction market prices and the fodder situation worsen across Wales NFU Cymru will be meeting Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones tomorrow for talks that are vital to the future of the livestock industry in Wales.
NFU Cymru will urge the Welsh Assembly Government to press on urgently with work to establish high and low risk areas in GB so as to enable farmers in Wales to resume essential farm management and trade moves that are not just crucial now but will have far reaching implications for next year’s production and marketing cycle too.
Dai Davies President of NFU Cymru said, "There is no doubt in my mind that we are in a crisis situation, market prices are extremely poor, fodder and keep are getting tighter by the day, and there is an urgent need to move animals to avoid welfare problems.
These are NFU Cymru’s current priorities and will be putting them to the Minister at tomorrow’s meeting:
• Stressing to farmers the need for vigilance and adherence to conditions associated with licences to keep Wales free of disease.
• Establish albeit conditional, a time-table for the implementation of measures to enable the industry to manage the situation.
• A relaxation of restrictions to allow movements of animals within a farm for management reasons and between different farms. This would allow movements of animals to lowland areas for over-wintering.
• To implement high and low risk areas in GB to enable farmers in Wales to resume essential trade moves.
• To explore with the EC a regionalised approach which will enable Wales to recapture its export markets at the earliest opportunity.
• Pending the reintroduction of exports, to put in place measures to underpin the market for light lambs. 20% of Welsh lambs are destined for the export market and will not be accommodated on the home market; there will be welfare implications for which we need a welfare disposal scheme.
• To stimulate domestic consumer demand.
• To explore intervention / private storage aid measures to put a base in the market place.
• Prompt payment of outstanding payments due under Agri-Environment Schemes which is causing huge cash flow problems for some participants.
Mr Davies said, "The export market for Wales is hugely important with 35% of Welsh production going to export. Light lambs accounting for some 20% of exports are a particular problem for Wales. There is no domestic demand for such lambs and this is now driving down the average market price for lambs to totally uneconomic levels. With the best will in the world eating ourselves out of this predicament, which seems to be Government’s priority, by raising consumption levels is not going to resolve the crisis and will only ever provide one small part of what is needed in a broad box of tools."
He continued, "We have been inundated with increasingly desperate calls from across Wales, as farmers have stock building up on their farms and as available grazing runs out we need urgent action from the Assembly Government to address these animal welfare problems and to ease the cash flow difficulties that farmers face.
"The industry finds itself in this horrible situation through no fault of its own and it is particularly galling that this virus ’escaped’ from a Government owned complex. Finally I must remind all farmers in Wales of the critical importance of biosecurity and adherence to all movement licence conditions. Any breaches will jeopardise existing relaxations and certainly delay any future relaxations."
