At the conference, held at the Royal Welsh Showground, Katrina spoke about her career in UK Government and the many and varied roles she has held.
Katrina's career
Katrina, whose parents are originally from Radnorshire, and regularly holidayed in the county, still has close links to the area, has worked in agriculture, climate and energy at a senior level including leading the UK officials’ team at the Paris climate negotiations in 2015. She has worked in Brussels and was one of the last two UK ambassadors to the EU. She has the distinction of being the last person who spoke on behalf of the UK in the EU.
In her speech, Katrina focussed on four key areas. Firstly, she recognised the international nature of agriculture and that supply chains often span many countries. She added that agriculture and food are strong parts of all trade deal negotiations.
Secondly, Katrina told members we should not look at each agricultural sector in isolation however we should look at a whole systems approach for a strong and resilient agriculture industry.
Genuine collaboration
Thirdly, Katrina spoke of the importance of genuine collaboration between government and farmers, and between farmers. She urged members to see how they can work together to meet environment and climate change obligations.
Finally, Katrina spoke about the importance of confidence in the industry. She said that: ‘agriculture has an awful lot to be proud of’ and that we can compete with the best in the world.
NFU Cymru President Aled Jones also spoke to members and updated them on his first year in office and the work NFU Cymru has undertaken for members.
A vote of thanks
Commenting on Katrina’s presentation NFU Cymru Brecon & Radnor County Chair, Sharon Hammond said: “We are delighted here in Brecon & Radnor that Katrina was able to come home to address our county conference. Katrina has a huge wealth of experience and expertise from working within the UK Government for nearly 40 years and it was really interesting to hear her reflections on her illustrious career.
Great to hear from @UKEUDeputy tonight @NFUCymru B&R County Conference with her four life lessons for UK Agriculture:
— Tori Morgan (@ToriMorgan91) January 9, 2023
1️⃣ Think international
2️⃣ No silos - food security is a whole supple chain
3️⃣ Genuine collaboration is key
4️⃣ UK Ag needs to be confident about the future pic.twitter.com/g0M6AsjvSN
“It was really pleasing to hear Katrina talk about the importance of the industry being confident in itself and the reason being that here in Brecon and Radnor, Wales and across the UK we have the unique ability to produce livestock in a sustainable manner in a part of the world where there is a great demand for high quality, healthy and nutritious red meat.
“Welsh farming faces many challenges at present with pressure on incomes as a result of unprecedented input cost rises, additional regulation and uncertainty over future agricultural policy, but we must be positive and work on the opportunities that we have to ensure Wales is seen as world leading in the production of climate friendly food, building our own brand and growing sales of our food in domestic and export markets. I’d also like to thank Aled Jones for making the journey down to update us on the work of the union.”