West Wales farmers honoured
Two farmers from West Wales – Walter Simon of Pembrokeshire and Roger Evans of Carmarthenshire – have been made Associates of the Royal Agricultural Societies for their outstanding contribution to the agricultural industry.
Roger Evans farms 440 acres at Penlan Argoed, Penlan Road, Carmarthen, where he runs a herd of 360 commercial and pedigree Holstein Friesian cows and 220 followers.
A noted dairy farmer, he has received the Associateship particularly for his contribution in the field of education, linking academic teaching to farming practice by hosting visits to his farm by agricultural students, farmers and others associated with the dairy industry.
He is a member of the consultative committee of Coleg Sir Gâr, regional representative of the Dairy Co/Dairy Development Centre steering group which provides research and training for progressive milk producers, and of the European Dairy Farmers Organisation all bodies which have assisted him in passing on knowledge and expertise to visitors to his farm from the UK and overseas including 200 members of the European Dairy Farmers Organisation who visited the farm when their annual congress took place in Wales in 2004.
Mr Evans is a member of the Carmarthen Grassland Society and a director and vice chairman of Carmarthen and Pumsaint Farmers Co-op. Walter Simon of West Orielton Farm, Orielton, Pembroke, is a Nuffield Scholar and a well-known figure in the potato growing industry and was made an Associate for his personal contribution to agriculture. He has been the managing partner of a family farming enterprise since 1990 whose farming system has developed to growing 50 hectares of potatoes. In order to capitalise on the climatic advantages of the area an average of 14 different varieties of potatoes are grown on the farm each year, extending the harvest to approximately 16 weeks, thus spreading the use of labour and machinery.
Mr Simon was appointed to the British Potato Council in 1997, was reappointed in 2000 for a further three years but declined to serve for a third term to make way for new members. In 2002 he was awarded a Nuffield Scholarship and travelled in North America studying genetic modification in potatoes and the risks and opportunities the technology offered.
In 2006 he was appointed to the NFU Board of Horticulture and Potatoes representing Wales and served on the committee reviewing the NFU’s position on GM crops. He is chairman of the Dyfed branch of the CLA.