Latest / UK Column Radio / Seeing The Wood For The Trees- Farming And Habitat In Wales With Gareth Wyn Jones

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Seeing The Wood For The Trees- Farming And Habitat In Wales With Gareth Wyn Jones · UK Column Radio

• 0:06
  The basis of what I want to talk to you about is obviously to do
• 0:09
  with the sustainable farming scheme, the consultation, and Leslie Griffiths has stated or
• 0:17
  sort of prefaced the entire thing by say, I'm just going to quote from
• 0:20
  her thing and ask you for comment. The urgency of the climate and nature
• 0:24
  emergency cannot be overstated. Its effects are impacting on our ecosystems, altering the
• 0:29
  very fabric of our world, and post significant threats to our agricultural and food
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  systems. Recognizing this, our focus on sustainable policies, innovative strategies and collaborative
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  efforts is paramount in mitigating the adverse effects of climate change while ensuring a resilient
• 0:44
  future for all. So that's what she says, and the inference there is
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  that farming is playing some part, a detrimental part in what she's called the
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  climate emergency. So first of all, can I have your view sort of
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  you know, the wider campaign view of the evidence that's underpinning her prefacing her
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  statement like that. So for many years, since the nineteen eighties, we've
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  been in environmental type schemes. So all this has been government driven from the
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  beginning. I look at what we do appear on this farm for three hundred
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  and seventy five years. It's sustainable. You know. I see the first
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  swallows coming in. I hear the first cuckoo. I don't see the nature
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  depleted whales that I hear about. You know, the frog spawns on the
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  mountain, the birds are singing, and you know, we can produce food
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  in an environmentally friendly way. Yeah, there's problems, don't get me wrong,
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  but we need to address them problems. But cheap food comes at a
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  cost, and I think it's an easy way out to blame the farmers,
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  and it has been for many mainstream media outlets and for governments as well.
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  And we've got the supermarkets price pushing on every Tom and Harry that's producing anything
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  in the UK. So enough is enough, and we start and you know,
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  fighting back against this buconium measures and you know, making sure we can
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  produce food afford the BLAF sustainably, seasonally and in an environmentally friendly way for
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  the consumer and the customer. Perfect. So to sort of shrink it down
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  to the bare minimum, how would you articulate the strategic campaign and the background
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  to it and its end state well so that the campaign started with a little
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  WhatsApp letter that was given to me just over a month ago. I read
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  it, I thought it was very powerful. Then there was a meeting in
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  Welshpool where eleven hundred farmers turned up, and then exactly a week later there
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  was threey three hundred in Commanden that turned up and all three points were taken
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  the SFS Sustainable Farming Scheme TB, which is absolutely killing us and NBS.
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  So they're the three points we want to address with our Welsh government, with
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  our Environmental minister, and we feel very strongly that we've been had done by
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  especially by TB. And I think a lot of the you know, the
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  measures within the SFS needs to be looked at and readdressed. And the nb
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  z's going to put so many small farms out of business that keep a few
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  cattle, which is a strong you know, cattle a part of the whole
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  ecosystems we've got. We need them for them a new were to keep onto
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  these uplands, to keep the soil fertility flying. Okay, And there was
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  obviously there was a gathering in Cardiff last Wednesday twenty eighth, But I get
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  from what I understand nobody came out of the Senate to actually deal with anybody
• 3:53
  there with that in the mild. No, they did come out, we
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  did, all right, Okay, So we had four speaking and quite a
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  few ams came out. We had two I think labor ams standing in the
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  wings and they didn't come out to talk to you know, the group that
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  were the speakers, and they just kept in the wings for some reason.
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  Okay, and so on that. Do you feel that you have the liaison
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  that you need or indeed the sort of levers of power with which to manipulate
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  the situation in your favor at this moment in time. We feel frustrated.
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  You know, there's a few people had the opportunity to speak with them,
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  the unions both sides FUWN and f you are pushing our voices were still in
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  consultation. Don't forget. But when you have the first minister that says farmers
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  aren't telling me where to spend his money, you know, things like that
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  don't help the situation. And I believe you know three things that he said.
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  The second thing he said was well, farmers voted for Brexit, so
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  you know he's blaming us for Brexit. Plus the situation with him, Well,
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  I was a demeanor. I never did vote for Brexit, and many
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  of the farmers and across the board, you know, the average would be
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  quite similar, I should think, and we have to take the majority door.
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  And another one he said when he came into the school in North Wales
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  that a certain person asked him, oh, so you held up better tractors
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  and he said, yeah, the farmers have got nothing better to do.
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  So there are three points that have really, you know, not helped the
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  course as somebody in his position, he shouldn't use that language. He's bouring
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  petrol on the fire and he should know better. And do you envisage at
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  all a situation in which farming could be conducted without subsity? Yeah, there
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  is opportunities, but we have to have a fair price for what we're producing
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  and that's going to cost you, the consumer and the customer a lot more
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  so the food that we produce should have that at least double and maybe triple
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  in some places. So you know, that's the thing. And who will
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  suffer the poorer The poorer people within our communities will be the people that suffer.
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  And this is where I think we have to get the message out there
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  that you know, the cap the Common Agricultural Policy was designed because people were
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  going hungry in the UK in Europe after the war, so they designed that
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  then for us to produce affordable food. So them subsidies that came to farmers
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  were then subsidized to you as the general public, because we were getting paid
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  to produce food at affordable rates. One stats that's kept in my head for
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  a long time is every time a farmer has given a pound in Wales one
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  pound in whales, he turns that into nine pound within the local economy.
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  So he goes down to his local warehouse to buy, you know, a
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  couple of gates where them gates will be applicated by local welding firms, galvanizers,
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  you know, all these businesses from the feed to the fertilizer, to
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  the vets, you know, to medicines, to all the people that rely
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  on the farmer, every single one of them are going to take a hit.
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  So that one pound given to the farmer to produce nine I think it's
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  one of the best investments any government could ever do. And just to take
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  that a little bit further, the relationship with the supermarkets, the groceries code
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  adjudicator seems powerless and inactive. How are you able to affect change in the
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  relationship with the supermarkets or distributors or essentially any anyone further up the food chain
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  as it were. I think we have to look at policies that are set
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  up in government as well. You know, if we could have a policy
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  within the government that, you know, whatever something costs price production, that
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  the farmer gets maybe five or ten or fifteen percent on top of that.
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  Because when you've got farmers that are milking cows and that price of production or
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  milk per liter coming through things costing them thirty five pence and they're only getting
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  thirty pence for the milk, well, you don't have to be clever to
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  understand that's not sustainable. And these are the things that government and supermarkets and
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  the consumer have to understand because we are sleep walking into food shortages, no
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  doubt, no doubt, I'd be saying it for a long time. We
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  can see what's happening in Europe, you know, the Netherlands, Germany,
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  France, Spain, Poland. Now the farmer is the last person on God's
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  earth to go out to protest. I can tell you that now, because
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  they've got animals to feed, they've got crops to sew, and they've got
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  things to do. They don't want to be out protesting. But when you're
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  fighting for your livelihood, be a children's future, you'll do anything. And
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  that's why we're seeing a desperate state across the world literally, not just Ura.
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  It's a worldwide problem, and I think we have to start to think
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  there is something globally and turning against the people that feed the world. Given
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  that specifically, that pressure and the consultation makes quite a lot of or draws
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  quite a lot of attention to soil health and that sort of thing in particular,
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  sort of reduction of chemical inputs into farming. Is there a sort of
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  campaign view on that side of it. Well, I don't disagree with some
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  realms of that. I think soil health is the most important thing. We
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  can use more degenerative ways, but we have to have a fair price for
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  what we're producing. So you know, if they've opened the floodgates like Westminster
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  have to the Australian trade deals, and then we're struggling and scraping to produce
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  different products without what they've got and if you look into the Ukraine and Poland,
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  they don't have the legislations for some of the sprays out there, so
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  they can still spray with stuff that we haven't been allowed to use in this
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  country for twenty or thirty years, and they're able to produce you know,
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  that crop and then ship it into this country and then challenge it. So
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  it has to be a playing field that's fair for everybody. So these are
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  important issues that the consumer and the customer need to understand and once we can
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  get their message out there, and I think it is beginning to resonate,
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  people are starting to ask questions and they're beginning to look at where the food
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  comes from and how it's produced. And these are all important things because we
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  can build a better Britain on our bellies with a farming food revolution. And
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  you know, if we look at the way that we're producing the food and
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  the nutrient density of that food as in you know, grass fed beef and
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  lamb, there's a heck of a lot of you know, nutrients in that
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  and for me, that's what we should be pushing over onto the next generation.
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  And if we can get them to change the way they eat, to
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  move them away from fast foods and processed foods. You know that is going
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  to say the NHS in the long run billions, because we've got an OBCT
• 11:20
  problem, We've got a diabetes problem in this country. And I do think
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  a lot of this is down to dietary problems within the youngsters of today.
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  So you know, build a better Britain on the bellies by teaching the next
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  generation what to eat seasonal, good, healthy meats and making sure that they
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  understand the benefits of that, because the benefits is not just physical. I
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  think the benefits would be massively massively mentally as well. There's a lot of
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  depression. There's a lot of people that are feeling, you know, that
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  there's not much of a future. But you know, you get good food
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  in you and you get out into the great outdoors and do something and find
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  something you know and do some challenges. Wow, yeah, you feel like
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  you've done something. So it's getting that balance I think out there. I
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  think that's a very strong message and what I would say, I hope you
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  won't receive this as a criticism, but at the moment, I think I'm
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  right in saying that a lot of stuff's being done under the no farmers,
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  no Food banner, which obviously has been is actually from without having been set
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  up by James Melvine. I think a non farming scott is that the Is
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  that going to be the sort of you know, the banner under which you
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  continue to careless or is there going to be a different framework. I work
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  with everybody and anybody, okay, speak with anybody and everybody. I think
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  this is really important. So everything that was done on the Wells protest had
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  nothing to do with no farmers, no food, okay, because the banners
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  are there. You know, if you go back onto my web pay page
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  from eight two years ago, there's no farmer's, no food, no future,
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  you know because mister Melville and I've been speaking to him quite a lot.
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  He is a farmer's son from Scotland, so he does have a farming
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  background and a farming connection. And all I can tell you is I speak
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  as I find. He's been a gentleman with me, hasn't pushed anything.
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  He has always just put the points over for the farming community. Look,
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  any moment in time that I feel that's not serving me, I walk away
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  from it. And he understands that. But I can't fault the man and
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  the people around him. I think he's been very, very unlucky that he's
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  sort of the figurehead there and people have been pointing at I'm trying to discredit
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  him because you know, it's like some of this that's an alcoholic, you
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  know, and he's come clean and everybody's just go, well, he's just
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  a bloody alcoholic. Know, it's just an alcoholic, you know. Give
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  give the man a chance, Give the man a chance, give you know,
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  give the devil his due. And I think going forward, we'll have
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  to work with a lot of people to find solutions. And they might not
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  be people that will be of the same political belief or you know, they'll
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  have a maybe a different mindset. But if we can't work collectively and we're
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  looking for faults in every Tom Dick can Adry, well I think we might
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  as well just go back to bed and forget it and just let government rulers
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  in the way that they want. So for me coming together working with people
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  and listen, I'm going to disagree with a lot of them because I say,
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  I speak my mind. But if the aim and the main goal is
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  to future proof food production, the environments and farming in the UK. Yet
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  I'll work with anybody, even if Donald trub gets on the phone and asks
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  me to you know, have a chat with them. What I want to
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  be able to do is direct the public, direct the viewing audience to somewhere
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  that they can follow what you're doing, support what you're doing, understand what
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  you're doing, and if they are able to to pitch in and you know,
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  offer trading relationships with farmers or or who knows, what where do people
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  go to do that? Yeah? Well, look, I have the most
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  the biggest following in the world as a family on YouTube with two million,
• 15:28
  one hundred thousand and the rising every week, three hundred thousand followers on Facebook,
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  so everything TikTok as well Instagram and I have a x account, so
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  everything will be shared across these platforms. And you know, I'm more than
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  open for discussion. I've been using a lot of other people's videos, people
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  sending me videos about their thoughts, their frustrations, you know, their children's
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  restations. A lot of kids have been asking will there be a future for
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  us in Welsh aga culture and Welsh farming, you know, and these are
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  quite poignant. They do is when you watch them. They're very powerful because
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  you can see these kids out there pulling carves, out there milking, helping
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  their mothers and fathers. That was the way I was brought up. You
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  know, I wasn't university educated. You know, I just went to school
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  and didn't go that very often. To be honest with you, I'd much
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  rather be home with my father. And you know, my father's eighty seven.
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  He still works seven days a week. He's still on the farm,
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  loves it. He's never had the passport, never had a holiday. The
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  only the only time he ever went away was with my mother for the honeymoon
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  to the Isle of Man. That's that's the only holiday my father's ever had
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  in his life. He has worked his whole life to produce food affordably,
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  seasonally and sustainably for the general public. And he doesn't mum, but he
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  is absolutely angry about some of the kunia measures that people are trying to bring
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  on, you know, to the land that him and his forefather have worked
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  bloody hard, bloody hard to produce that food to feed people affordably. They
• 17:04
  want to plant trees on them. So we've got to address that. And
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  I'm not against trees one bit, the right tree in the right place,
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  hedges and edges, and I think hedges and edges would be a lot better
• 17:15
  for the cab and sequence and for you know nature and as in wildlife corridors.
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  And we have to look at these dimensions within the agricultural sector and some
• 17:29
  farms will be more open for it. Some farms will be more open to
• 17:33
  plant the odd tree here and there. I planted forty trees lasting on the
• 17:37
  farm and they were all fruit trees, you know, and generations to come
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  they'll be going. Oh, Cadathan Jones planted that. Look my grandfather on
• 17:45
  my great carb. But that's the feeling that we should be getting. We
• 17:48
  should be leaving a legacy behind us. And I feel we have been portrayed
• 17:52
  as the bogey man in a lot of situations and it's time for change because
• 17:57
  you will need a farmer once, twice or three times every single day of
• 18:03
  life. Perfect, Okay, Look, I know your your short of time.
• 18:07
  If you have got a sort of closing message for the UK column audience,
• 18:11
  then please do sort of you know, have have your say now.
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  But the only other thing I would ask is it's kind of in relation to
• 18:21
  what you were just saying in your dealings with the government and with industry,
• 18:26
  do I assume that within the you know, the sort of the SFS consultation,
• 18:32
  rather than just rejecting it wholesale, you want to negotiate into a position
• 18:36
  that suits all parties. Negotiation is part of the conversation. But if you're
• 18:41
  not in the room for that conversation, yes, that's going to happen.
• 18:45
  So you know, the consultation now is up there. But when you get
• 18:48
  the first minute to say I vamers aren't going to tell him where he spent
• 18:52
  the money? What the point of a consultation. These are the things that
• 18:56
  are eating and frustrating people. Yeah, there's a few good things in it,
• 19:00
  don't get me wrong, but we have to look at every single farm
• 19:04
  individually, and to be blanketing a country with one scheme fits all, I
• 19:12
  don't think it's right. I really don't think it's right. And what you
• 19:17
  know meets for my neighbor next door will not be for me, and we
• 19:22
  am very very similar. But he could fit into quite a few brackets that
• 19:26
  I wouldn't. So all these things are important, and yeah, more than
• 19:33
  happy to talk with anybody that's that's my holy thoughs. You know, people
• 19:37
  are making it political. People are trying to throw, you know, curveballs
• 19:40
  as Oh, he's a right wing extremist, he's a zero bloody denial and
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  all these things. Look, I'm a farm foremost, you know, I'm
• 19:48
  a father of three, I'm a husband to one. I love my life.
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  I'm very fortunate. I could walk away from this tomorrow and never have
• 19:56
  to work again. But that's not the point. You know. It's never
• 19:59
  about money, it's never about the fame. It's about the future. And
• 20:03
  if people can understand that we are here as farmers for you, for you,
• 20:08
  you know, because without you, we wouldn't have work, without you
• 20:12
  buying our products, there wouldn't be no points. But we have to make
• 20:18
  sure that you understand that we need you to support us. So come together,
• 20:23
  make sure that we can find these solutions going forward to build a better
• 20:27
  Britain on our bellies. And I think we do need a farming food revolution,
• 20:32
  and that's not just in this country but worldwide. People start to really
• 20:36
  understand wasting less food, you know, understanding that we use every single bit
• 20:41
  of the animal, you know, and whatever your diet requirements, are with
• 20:45
  your diets. Three beliefs say there will be a farmer behind that somewhere,
• 20:49
  and it's scary when you see some of these big multinational corporations coming in with
• 20:55
  some of the you know, the process so food and they're the ones maybe
• 21:00
  that are putting pressure, lobbying with a lot of cash behind the scenes.
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  I don't know. I'm just thinking, but you know, we have to
• 21:07
  have a farmer. We have to have them farmers and the family farms in
• 21:11
  Wales are the beating hearts of our community and it would be a great shame
• 21:15
  to lose that