Teaming up with colleagues from the NFU, the union had a front row exhibition stand at the UK Labour event in Liverpool and the Conservative event in Manchester, as well as attending the Plaid Cymru event in Aberystwyth. NFU Cymru President Aled Jones and members of the NFU Cymru team met with MSs, MPs, councillors, party members and conference delegates to discuss current issues impacting farmers and the rural economy.
Our ambission for Welsh Farming
NFU Cymru President Aled Jones, who attended all three events said: “Meeting politicians from all parties over the course of this year’s party conference season gave us a great opportunity to highlight our ambition for Welsh farming, an ambition to be world leaders in the production of climate friendly food whilst enhancing our environment and helping ensure that farming can continue to be the cornerstone of thriving rural communities and our economy.
“We impressed on politicians the importance of current and future governments in both Cardiff Bay and Westminster delivering long term funding arrangements that properly reflect the funding required to deliver on our food, environment and climate ambitions. We talked of the need for politicians to support a policy and regulatory environment that supports the continued sustainable growth of the Welsh food and farming sector helping us to continue to produce high quality, safe and affordable food and increasing the contribution that we can make to both domestic and global food security.”
Meeting MSs and MPs
At the Conservative Party Conference, visitors to the stand included Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Therese Coffey; Minister of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Mark Spencer; and Sam Kurtz, Rural Affairs Spokesperson for the Conservatives, plus a large number of MSs and MPs.
Meanwhile, in Liverpool at the Labour Party Conference, the stand hosted visits from the First Minister, MSs, MPs and a number of the shadow cabinet, with well over a thousand of the delegates who visited the stand pledging their support for British farming.
In Aberystwyth at the Plaid Cymru Party Conference, NFU Cymru met with a number of MSs and MPs including Llyr Gruffydd MS, Plaid Cymru Rural Affairs Spokesperson, as well as Cefin Campbell MS and Sian Gwenllian MS, who lead for the party on matters relating to the co-operation agreement with Welsh Government.
