THE future of the farming sector and how it can develop in future, was hotly debated at the Farmers’ Union of Wales Ceredigion county branch conference at Lampeter Rugby Club.

Keynote speakers on the night were Gwyn Howells, CEO of Hybu Cig Cymru; Dr Nerys Llewelyn Jones from Agri Advisors Solicitors; Dr William Stiles from IBERS; and Gwyn Jones, AHDB dairy board chair.

FUW Ceredigion CEO Mared Rand Jones said: “I would like to thank our speakers for their informative presentations and all those who attended, making our county branch conference a great success. And I would also like to thank Ffermio presenter Meinir Howells for chairing the evening.”

Gwyn Jones told members that we must face and recognise that Brexit is the biggest challenge in agriculture, referring to the recent AHDB report ‘The Horizon’, which highlights the results of detailed modelling of different Brexit scenarios.

The document highlights the risks faced if Britain leaves the EU without easy, tariff-free access to the single market, with Less Favoured Area livestock farm incomes particularly hard hit, falling to negative figures in the worst case scenario.

Lowland livestock farms fare little better, with incomes falling to less than £4,000 in two of the three scenarios looked at, and across all UK farm types, incomes more than halve under an ‘extreme’ Brexit scenario.

See this week’s south editions for the full story, in shops and online Wednesday