AUGUST has come and gone and it has been a busy month for us all.

Despite not having the usual wealth of local shows to attend, we have been working hard to ensure our members’ voices were heard loud and clear by politicians, decision-makers and the public too.

Our county office and members have been hosting farm visits with local politicians addressing the most critical issues our industry is facing.

My thanks go to everyone who has been involved in those lobbying and awareness raising campaigns.

The conversation around climate change is picking up pace; hardly surprising with the United Nations Food Systems Summit and COP26 on the horizon.

We read the latest IPCC report with dread and it has confirmed what farmers across Wales (indeed, the world) are already experiencing on the frontline of climate change: increasing occurrences of extreme weather events such as flooding, drought and challenging growing conditions as seen in recent years in Wales.

This will not only have an impact on farming businesses and family farms, but on the ability of farmers to continue feeding the world’s growing population and maintaining food security - while simultaneously reducing the 10 per cent of UK greenhouse gas emissions which come from agriculture.

The UK and Welsh governments have a key role to play in better supporting our farmers to deliver against various efficiency, biodiversity and sustainability goals which will help the country achieve Net Zero.

However, there are concerns that farmland could become a dumping ground for other industries’ emissions, through carbon offsetting and tree planting schemes on farmland in the quest to become Net Zero as required by the report.

Part of the solution to climate change includes thriving family farms; supporting the domestic production of food, not off-shoring our environmental impacts through importing food produced to lower standards overseas, increasing efficiency, thriving rural communities and enhancing biodiversity on farms are all part of the solution to climate change, and should not be seen in isolation to reducing carbon emissions and staving off the terrible ‘tipping points’ the IPCC report refers to.

When it comes to carbon trading, members have hopefully seen our recent call for discussions on the merits and drawbacks of limiting the amount of carbon credits that can be sold from Welsh land, carbon trading quotas and other approaches that might be applied in Wales.

This complex issue will be discussed at your county executive committee and in a special meeting in order to investigate what policy options the union should support in order to protect the interests of our industry and Wales as a whole.

With this in mind and on a final note, if members have any thoughts on this issue please let us in the county office know so that it can be properly discussed.

Glyn Roberts, FUW president