Farming Talk: Reflections of Welsh Farming Week

As part of this annual event, we launched an exciting new campaign titled Secure the Future of Welsh Food/Diogelu Dyfodol Bwyd Cymru which aims to champion Welsh food and seeks the public’s support to help secure the future of food production.

As part of Welsh Farming Week, we held a series of local stakeholder days in Powys, Monmouthshire and Anglesey, which saw members of the wider farming industry come together to hear more about the campaign.

These events also gave our staff and members a chance to network with them and tell them more about the importance of getting the Sustainable Farming Scheme right.

We also held an online live lesson, with thousands of school children across the country taking part. Along with NFU Education, NFU Cymru streamed food and farming live lessons to schools, bringing the farmyard to the classroom in both English and Welsh for children aged between seven and 11-years-old. This year’s lessons were focused on dairy and with two dairy farmer hosts in Angharad Edwards and Anna Bowen, the pupils learnt about various farming practices including bringing the cows into the parlour, milking, making ice cream and also visiting a beekeeper to talk about the benefits of pollinators on farm. There was also a live on-farm question and answer session, which was a great success.

Following on from our display of 5,500 pairs of wellies in the steps of the Senedd earlier this year, we donated children’s wellies to a community group called the Stephens and George Centenary Charitable Trust. The trust will distribute the wellies to users of their community groups.

Finally, the week culminated in the union taking a taste and view of Welsh agriculture into Wales’ capital city. The Working Street area of Cardiff was transformed into a Welsh food and farming hub with life-sized model farm animals, a digital video van streaming picturesque Welsh landscapes, and samples of PGI Welsh Lamb, PGI Welsh Beef, Welsh milk, Welsh cheese and organic Welsh apple juice for passers by to have a true taste of the quality produce coming from Welsh farms.

The over-arching theme of the week has been to Secure the Future of Welsh Food / Diogelu Dyfodol Bwyd Cymru and at a time when food production around the world is under pressure, we simply cannot afford to jeopardise the production of safe, quality food that is made from the many natural assets we have an abundance of here in Wales, including plentiful rainfall and green grass. We think our food is the most climate-friendly in the world.

We have also raised awareness of the campaign with a series of eye-catching gate banners positioned along popular routes across the country, as well as at farm shops and other popular food destinations. Do keep a look out for these.

Visit nfu-cymru.org.uk/SecureWelshFood, Google ‘Secure Welsh Food’ or follow the #SecureWelshFood #DiogeluBwydCymru hashtags on NFU Cymru’s Facebook, X and Instagram accounts for more details on the campaign and to find farmer-facing and public-facing resources to support the cause.

Aled Jones, NFU Cymru President