AT the start of the month, leading politicians flocked to the annual Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) and their comments on post-Brexit agriculture were welcome.

But, Welsh farmers still remain in the dark over many important issues.

We welcomed Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Michael Gove’s apparent commitment to agricultural funding until 2024, and the general thrust of his speech, which described a prosperous and forward looking post-Brexit industry which is rewarded for delivering the very best in terms of food, the environment and social contributions to society.

However, the nuts and bolts of turning such a vision into reality are where the obstacles will lie, and we look forward to seeing more meat on the bones in the long-awaited DEFRA white paper, due in the spring.

Many Welsh farmers will be concerned that nothing was said about progress on talks between devolved regions on how devolved powers and funding might operate once we leave the legal framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Wales currently has devolved powers over agricultural and rural development spending and policy, but this is within the limits laid down in the CAP framework.

The FUW fully supports such devolved powers continuing. But, we now need to ensure that devolved powers are fully respected by all four nations and that we don't see the creation of support mechanisms that benefit one nation over another.

Therefore, we need to develop a UK framework which ensures equivalence between producers in the four nations, which respects devolved powers and allows a degree of flexibility.

We know that this is a difficult balance to strike, especially given political differences between devolved regions, but progress is necessary.

We currently have such a system, so it is not difficult to see how a framework could be developed which strikes a sensible balance between respecting devolved powers and avoiding the dangers of a free-for-all.

Reaching sensible agreement on spending frameworks should be a priority, in order to avoid inappropriate and unfair divergence between spending areas in devolved nations.