NFU Cymru has met with the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs at Pembrokeshire County Show to discuss its consultation plans and receive assurances about funding support for farmers in Wales.

The news regarding funding support came following the announcement from Chancellor Philip Hammond at the weekend and NFU Cymru was pleased to receive assurances from the Cabinet Secretary Lesley Griffiths AM that farmers in Wales would continue to receive direct funding support until 2020.

NFU Cymru president Stephen James said: “We were heartened by the assurances given by the Cabinet Secretary to guarantee funding for direct support to Welsh agriculture until 2020. This move gives us short term confidence and gives our businesses some stability while we plan for the future.”

The meeting at Pembrokeshire County Show on Tuesday also presented NFU Cymru president Stephen James, deputy president John Davies, Pembrokeshire County chairman Walter Simon and director John Mercer with the opportunity to discuss NFU Cymru’s member consultation plans with the Cabinet Secretary. The consultation, launched at the beginning of the week, is the most significant in NFU Cymru’s history.

The Union is seeking the views of its members on the shape and direction they believe a future Welsh agricultural policy should take. NFU Cymru will also engage with its members at a number of meetings held throughout Wales next month.

NFU Cymru was also able to use the meeting to raise further concerns about the most recently released Bovine TB figures and potential plans for NVZ designation within the county.

NFU Cymru president Stephen James said: “As we launch this important piece of consultation work it was timely to meet with the Cabinet Secretary at this critical juncture and update her on the work we are doing with our members.

“We were pleased to be able to share our ‘Shaping a New and Dynamic Future for Agriculture’ consultation paper, which considers the priorities for Welsh farmers and the options open to them now that Britain has voted to leave the European Union, with the Cabinet Secretary. We will be sure to make her aware of our members’ views as we look to work in partnership with Welsh Government and our partners across the industry to ensure Welsh agriculture is able to thrive in this new and unfamiliar landscape.”

NFU Cymru director John Mercer added: “We are extremely grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for meeting with us at Pembrokeshire County Show and giving us the opportunity to detail the work we are doing with our members. This is a pivotal time as we look to help shape a productive, profitable and progressive future for the industry, so we welcome the continued contact we have had with the Cabinet Secretary since she has been in post and we look forward to working with her over the important weeks, months and years ahead.”

For further details about NFU Cymru’s consultation work, please visit www.nfu-cymru.org.uk.