Farmer Focus: Faith lost in Welsh leaders over NVZ debacle

Today (7 May) is an eagerly awaited day. It is the day we will find out who will represent us in the Senedd (Welsh parliament) for the next five years.

The new members of the Senedd will have a significant impact on agriculture, as they will be laying the foundation for our future Welsh Agricultural Bill.

This will set the framework for policies and regulation which will affect farmers in Wales for many decades to come.

See also: Glamorgan farmers fear NVZ rules will force them to destock

Farmers across Wales have lost faith in many politicians over recent months, owing to the Welsh government’s sudden introduction of the damaging nitrate vulnerable zone (NVZ) regulations across the whole country.

The financial support given to farmers not only contributes significantly to the rural economy, it also acts as a lifeline to our unique culture, and of course the Welsh language.

The crucial existence of family farms across rural Wales is the cornerstone to the old Celtic language and is critical to its long-term survival.

Our local area is typical of the traditional Welsh heartland, with every farming family in the area speaking Welsh as their first language.

In a normal year, I could presume that 95% of my life would be conducted through the medium of Welsh.

As we prepared the cattle for turnout in late April, we weighed and body condition-scored all animals.

We were pleased to find that many of the cattle had fattened on silage over the winter. This is the advantage of native cattle on an upland grassland farm.

In early May, they’ll be on their way to a slaughterhouse in Yorkshire. As a result of recent welcome changes to the red meat levy redistribution formula, the levy money will be returning to Wales, the location from where the animals originated.

Life on the farm in recent months has been very pleasurable as we were able to lamb and calve in an abundance of sunshine. We have experienced amazing mornings, delightful days and stunning sunsets over the mountains to the west. But the side effect of little rain, and cold April winds, has its consequences.

Dafydd Parry Jones and his wife, Glenys, run a closed flock of 750 Texel and Aberfield-cross ewes and 70 Hereford-cross suckler cows on 180ha in Machynlleth, Powys. Their upland organic system uses Hereford bulls, Charollais terminal sires and red clover silage, multispecies leys and rotational grazing.