Farming Talk: Engaging with political parties is an increasingly important part of our role
During the last few days I have been at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, an opportunity to meet with politicians and party members to discuss the current issues in the farming industry and to highlight the key policy proposals that we would like to see government in London and Cardiff implement to address the situation.
Every year, UK political parties hold their annual conferences, bringing together politicians, party members, stakeholders such as ourselves, thinktanks, businesses, media outlets and charities.
Party conferences provide political parties with the opportunity to enjoy significant profile for their key people and valuable coverage for their policy pronouncements, whilst for organisations such as NFU Cymru they are a valuable opportunity to speak directly with politicians and raise industry issues with them.
We have been fortunate enough to go to a number of conferences this year. It has been important to be able to meet with politicians from rural and urban backgrounds , sharing our
concerns over the current proposals for Welsh Government’s Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS).
We have used and continue to use these events as an opportunity to push forward our key ask of Government; that is an agricultural budget that allows us to be able to meet our ambitions to be world leading in the production of climate friendly food against a backdrop where nature is thriving on our farms.
Farmers are being asked to deliver more than ever before in terms of food, climate, and nature and it is only right that there is adequate budget in place to deliver this.
Given the inflationary pressures weighing on families and farmers up and down the country, one of our key messages to the Labour party in Liverpool was to ensure farming businesses can continue to deliver high-quality, affordable, and climate-friendly food for the nation while also protecting and caring for our environment.
The Conservative Party conference in Birmingham will be up next, followed by Plaid Cymru’s conference and in addition we will be meeting with the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats shortly for a wide-ranging discussion on the challenges facing Welsh agriculture.
Our engaging stand in Liverpool brought to life all of our diverse agri-sectors, featuring a glasshouse and milking parlour along with grassland, field margins and trees.
This year, we asked political delegates to pledge their support for farming by signing an apple to hang on our tree and we provided apple juice tastings and samples of cheese to make for a memorable visit.
Engaging with the political parties at their conference is an increasingly important part of our role especially with so much at stake in Wales with some key policy decisions pending,
whilst in Westminster of course all eyes will very shortly be on the UK Government’s budget of October 30.
Aled Jones, President of NFU Cymru
