Farmers across Wales light bonfires to send election agriculture message

Aelwyn Evans, who runs Caegwyn Farm Supplies in Llanwrda, Carmarthenshire, said: “Farmers are feeling very low.

“They come into my shop on a daily basis, complaining about what the government is trying to do to farming. It’s farmers that keep businesses like ours going.

“Every rural business is concerned at the moment.”

Although agriculture is a devolved issue, Gary Howells said farming had not been given enough prominence during the election campaign.

“As a group, we’re not very happy with how food security and agriculture has been talked about during the pre-election campaign,” said Mr Howells.

“We’ve heard nothing about it. We talk a lot about the cost of food in the supermarkets.

“We witnessed with the Ukraine war, what can happen in a very short time. We have to make sure that we sustain our self-sufficiency.”

Mr Howells also voiced frustration with a “lack of progress” in negotiations with the Welsh government over issues like the new Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) and new rules to control agricultural pollution, due to be introduced in October.