Welsh hill farmers feeling 'abandoned'

[snowhite]

What does "more resilience" mean? That farming should be more profitable? Or that farmers should stop bitching and wanting handouts?

it is spin doctoring

 

[RJ1]

The Duck is correct - sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Given the u turn on TB policy and the recent attitude of Alun Davies, it looks like a fair bit more "lose" for the foreseeable future. And yes, all sorts are now coming under the "rural development" umbrella.

As for the article - nothing new really. Vague phrases without substance - should go far in politics. Any ideas why the situation is so different in NI and Scotland?

 

[Cowabunga]

it is spin doctoring

It must mean something to someone? Or more probably it is pure gobshite.


PS. Could you move over further to the side in your Avatar so we can see more of that sexy tractor.

 

[Devil's advocate]

Point is the Welsh assembly have held back millions of pounds of hill payment which they have decided not to pay out.Hill farmers in the rest of the UK have had this paid and it is in their bank accounts.

The money is there and they could have offered to cover the cost of removing the dead sheep as was done in other parts of the UK.

Its not the issue of farmers wanting compensation,its the fact that we are being disadvantaged by our government and rural affairs minister.

Thanks for pointing that out Yale. Here in South Yorkshire the farmers with large areas of hill & few sheep, are doing really well at the moment. The ones with lots of sheep & smaller acerages of green but marginal ground are struggling.

 

[An Gof]

You are not comparing like with like. Arable farmers only lose a crop, and there is generally no additional cost involved disposing of it. It can simply be ploughed in as part of the annual cycle. If anything, as you have not taken a crop that year, you should in theory need less inputs the following year. Arable Farmers do not need to keep a breeding stock of Plants from year to year, they buy seed or plants which are readily available. I doubt if the losses experienced have made seed more expensive this year.

Sheep Farmers have not only lost a Crop of Lambs, but also their breeding stock of ewes (Capital Assets), which will have to be replaced. It is bad enough for those who farm enclosed areas in the uplands, as no doubt the cost of replacements will increase due to the losses. For those who run hefted flocks on common land, they cannot just go out and buy replacements. Building numbers back to their original level, means retaining ewe lambs. Depending on what percentage of the flock has been lost, and bearing in mind they will need to sell some to maintain an income, as farmers cannot live on SFP alone, this could mean a reduced income for several years.

They have also had to pay the costs of disposal which is estimated at a minimum of £25.00 per head.




The Welsh Sheep Farmers affected are not feeling sorry for themselves. Like Hill Farmers throughout the UK, they are a Hardy Breed, well used to dealing with the vagaries of weather, and anything else thrown at them.

What they are complaining about, is that they are being treated differently by the Welsh Assembly Government to every other Region in the UK.

England, Scotland and NI have made funds available - not Alun Davies.

English farmers have also been treated differently via modulation!

 

[bracken basher]

Looks like it is all gloom and doom
http://www.fwi.co.uk/articles/30/04/2013/138849/welsh-hill-farms-will-struggle-under-cap-plans.htm
and everyone else is going to have to share the pain!
http://www.fwi.co.uk/articles/25/04/2013/138768/urgent-rethink-needed-over-cap-budget-cuts-nfu.htm

 

[IANTO]

English farmers have also been treated differently via modulation!

Across all EU15 members of the CAP, except for the UK and Portugal modulation is a fixed 10%, and the other States are not allowed under EU Rules to apply "voluntary" modulation. Modulation up to 2008 was for the rest of Europe (except new members who had 0% modulation) 5%. From 2013 compulsory modulation will be 10% for all EU members.

The current figures are:
NI 14%
Scotland 14%
Wales 11.5% (Ending of Tir Mynydd, and low take up of Glastir means Alun Davies has not needed to increase it.)
England 19%

Money received from Voluntary modulation is used for Pillar II schemes, and the local Government is expected to contribute 40% on top.

Cornwall however as a designated EU Convergence area, along with the Scilly Isles gets special treatment, and HMG provides extra funds for these areas.

It is rather Ironic, that a Cornish Farmer complains about Modulation in the other regions, when Cornwall and the Scilly Isles is having special treatment that all other English farmers, cannot qualify for.

Your user name is AN GOF, which translated into English means A BLACKSMITH. Gof is also Blacksmith in Welsh.

ANGOF in Welsh also means forgotten.

I am tempted to call you "Scilly" (as people in glass houses, should not throw stones), but will give you the benefit of the doubt and that you were simply ANGHOFUS (forgetful).

 

[SilliamWhale]

What does "more resilience" mean? That farming should be more profitable? Or that farmers should stop bitching and wanting handouts?

I don't have a huge problem with what he says. He's saying cut your cloth accordingly. I can't see how farmers can expect anything else? The only irony is that left leaning Labour in Wales have never been particular advocates of creating small business'.

Ianto bemoans that English and Scots have got a lot more help he may have a point, but equally there's plenty of unfairness going on in the Welsh subsidy schemes and has been for years. Some farms get flooded out, some farms are in NVZ's, some farms get grants to buy guidance systems, some get grants for putting up slurry stores, some areas give you money if you happen to be under 40 and not run the business. Its not fair but what is?

That said I always felt fallen stock regulations are daft - nothing wrong with leaving a bit to mother nature or a jcb. Whats the point in carting dead things about, nothing wrong with a farm made incinerator even if it was an oil drum for lambs.

 

[Cowabunga]

That said I always felt fallen stock regulations are daft - nothing wrong with leaving a bit to mother nature or a jcb. Whats the point in carting dead things about, nothing wrong with a farm made incinerator even if it was an oil drum for lambs.

Fairly sure that, not all that long ago, the powers that be were advocating sunken digesters for fallen stock. ISTR that there were some at the RAS holding at Stonleigh when I visited. These must have had an overflow to a soakaway.