Last week saw the return of a much loved and anticipated event in the farming calendar, writes FUW Montgomeryshire chairman Iwan Pugh-Jones.

The Royal Welsh Winter Fair was back and what a success it was.

A further reason to celebrate was when we were joined by Minister Lesley Griffiths at our stand to present well known dairy farmer Dai Miles with the FUW’s award for the person who has made an outstanding contribution to the Welsh Dairy industry. It couldn’t have gone to a more serving recipient.

But amongst the cups of tea and mince pies, we also had some important work to do on behalf of our members.

Speaking to the Members of the Senedd we discussed the Co-Operation Agreement between Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Labour Party and concerns around the Water Pollution Regulations, bovine TB and the future farming scheme. Carbon trading and tree planting were also discussed.

Members can rest assured that the policy team and our elected officials were robust in their discussions, keeping the survival of our family farms here in Wales at the centre of conversation.

Members will also want to know that we have relaunched our call for payment capping at the Winter Fair. We have always supported the capping of direct agricultural payments, after farm employee wages and other factors are taken into account, since 2007.

This is on the grounds that it maximises the amount of money going to typical Welsh family farms and rural communities.

Unfortunately, the Welsh Government has so far refused to commit to maintaining any form of payment cap.

This raises concerns that future schemes will lead to money being taken away from hard working family farms and given to large landowners and charities - or even people based outside Wales.

If this is then coupled with a weakening of the current ‘active farmer’ eligibility criteria - a system that favours real farmers rather than absentee landowners - it would make matters worse, by taking away even more money from farming families and rural communities.