On Thursday, NFU Cymru Deputy President John Davies journeyed to Brussels to make the case for Welsh sheep farmers to EU decision makers.

Mr Davies, who farms a flock of 1,000 ewes in Merthyr Cynog, near Brecon, travelled to Belgium to join the High Level Reflection Group on sheep, taking a seat offered by agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan. The group will examine issues facing the sheep meat sector and come up with recommendations by the end of the year.

The European sheep sector was worth €5.2 billion euros last year. However, consistently low prices have threatened producers. Mr Davies said one of his priorities will be to challenge the strong competition Welsh farmers face from outside the EU. Mr Davies said, “New Zealand has a fixed EU quota of 228,000 tonnes. We believe that the move from frozen to fresh, and from carcases to bone in cuts represents a substantive change in the trade since the original agreement in the 1980s and this change is having an effect on the UK and EU sheep market.”

He said, “I will also call for the European Union to set up a clear and transparent deadweight pricing system, ensuring that we have the most accurate market data available. A transparent grading and dressing specification system – such as the one which already operates in the beef sector – should be created to ensure we have reliable scrutiny.

“Above all I will urge European policy makers to prioritise simple common sense.  NFU Cymru is calling for regulators to introduce tolerance into inspections system so that farmers are not penalised for minor errors such as ear tag reading failures or the odd missing record or ear tag.”