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National News
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| 17.06.08 - Farming, Food & Countryside - Consultation |
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| Written by Brynle Williams AM |
| Thursday, 17 July 2008 00:00 |
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Firstly I would like to pay credit to the Minister in bringing forward this consultation. Quite rightly, it emphasises the importance of rural communities, the protection of animal health from disease like Bluetongue and TB, as well as helping Welsh farmers tap into the growing market for the niche products that consumers are willing to pay a premium for. I would also welcome the fact that this document echoes many of the points the Welsh Conservatives raised in our recent debate on food security – about the impact of rising global food prices. There are however, a number of concerns that the Minister needs to address. The Minister has emphasised the importance of carbon storage in soil as one of the main ‘public goods’ that LFA support delivers. Is she able to state whether this will be the principal environmental benefit of LFA payments – and if not, what other elements are being proposed, and given the ongoing review into reducing farm red-tape, can she confirm how this will be monitored? Secondly, the Minister has given the impression in this document that the main challenge for electronic identification of sheep is convincing farmers to accept it. Surely, when figures from Hybu Cig Cymru have shown that set-up costs for an average flock would be in the thousands, with recurring annual costs in the hundreds, the Minister’s number one priority should be protecting the Welsh sheep industry from these completely impractical EU regulations, by securing a derogation, until that time when they are cost-effective and practical for Welsh flocks. Finally, will the Minister clarify how she intends to balance this drive to take more agricultural land out of food production, with the growing international demand for food, this is an issue that this consultation doesn’t address - How are you going to square this circle? Land is being taken out of food production for environmental reasons, and what’s left is becoming less productive because of the unaffordability of oil-based fertiliser. Surely if the Minister is concerned about Wales playing its role globally, and not hurting poorer countries – then as a rich, developed nation, it should be producing as much of its own food as possible, yet this document appears to treat food security as if it was a problem of the 1950s, and not one that’s enormously relevant today? |