The economy, climate, Wales' culture and language were top of the agenda for Farmers' Union of Wales officials who virtually joined the Welsh Labour Observer Plus event.

FUW President Glyn Roberts, FUW Deputy President Ian Rickman and FUW Senedd and Parliamentary Affairs Officer Libby Davies attended various virtual seminars including a Q&A session with First Minister, Mark Drakeford, where he raised the cost of living and direct impact of Brexit and UK Government budgets.

“We congratulated the Welsh Government on their free school meals policy and then went on to say that to farmers and rural communities, the UK Government promise of 'not a penny less' of funds to the Welsh Agricultural Budget was of paramount importance. We made it clear that as a Union we will do all we can to stress the importance of that promise in our conversations with Members of Parliament,” said FUW President Glyn Roberts.

In a seminar on the future of renewables in Wales hosted by Julie James MS and chaired by Huw Irranca-Davies MS, the FUW highlighted some common barriers faced by members wanting to diversify into renewable energy such as inadequate grid connection and a very slow planning system.

“However, we emphasised that there is great potential in Wales and for Welsh farmers to use more of our resources and increase renewable energy production without harming our food production,” said FUW Senedd and Parliamentary Affairs Officer Libby Davies.

Discussing how to accelerate Wales' path to a decarbonised economy with Vaughan Gethin, a session chaired by the CEO of Milford Haven Port, the Union noted the importance of proactively mitigating climate change and reducing emissions rather than relying on offsetting, particularly when that would take productive agricultural land out of use.

“The Minister noted how crucial it is to reach net zero and argued that it would probably require a combination of mitigation and offsetting. Whilst we understand his point, international companies offsetting their emissions on Welsh farmland would be problematic and should be opposed by the Welsh Government,” added FUW Deputy President Ian Rickman.

The importance of the Welsh language as part of Wales’ culture was highlighted by Education Minister, Jeremy Miles MS, in a seminar discussing the opportunities of tertiary education reform chaired by Hefin David MS.  

“We congratulated Jeremy Miles on establishing Comisiwn Cymunedau Cymreig and welcomed the Welsh Government objective of a million Welsh speakers by 2050. We also highlighted our appreciation of the Welsh Government support for the Urdd, and asked what the Government's view was on the contribution the YFC could make towards hitting that target and whether support would also be available to this organisation which is a cornerstone of Welsh speaking rural communities.

“Overall this was a very positive engagement opportunity and we thank the Welsh Government for the warm welcome we received and look forward to our continued working relationship,” said Glyn Roberts.