£6000 prize money for RWAS-Countryside Council for Wales award winners
The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society-Countryside Council for Wales Agri-Environment Award introduced in 1999 to recognise outstanding contributions to environmentally sensitive farming in Wales, marks its 10th anniversary at the Royal Welsh Show today (Monday, July 20).
The scheme, supported by the Young Farmers Clubs, has three categories – farmer, young farmer and supplier or contractor – and the President of the RWAS, Mrs Kate Thomas, will present prizes of £2000 to the winning competitor from each category at the presentation of major awards to be held on the first day of the show. Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones, will re-present the prizes on the CCW stand at 4.00pm.
All three ‘champions’ were winners of the Agri-Environment Award in 2005. They are:
Farmer: Aled Morgan Jones of Cefn Uchaf, Llanbedr, Gwynedd, who farms in popular tourist country above the coastal plain between Barmouth and Harlech. The farm has developed a camp site with a variety of well-marked woodland walks, immaculate buildings and well maintained walls and hedges.
Young Farmer: William Scale of Great Nash Farm, Llangwm, Haverfordwest, grows traditional crops of potatoes, grass and cereals and has also developed a series of bridleways and enhanced the environmental components of the farm with restored hedges and newly-planted broad leaved trees.
Contractor: Nigel and Joyce Gervis of Ty Mawr Lime Ltd, Ty Mawr Farm, Llangasty, Brecon, were the first winners of the contractor category when it was introduced five years ago. The farm is situated on the edge of Llangorse Lake in the Brecon Beacons National Park where they have resurrected a lost industry in Wales and developed a thriving business making lime mortar and other products.
The chairman of the Countryside Council for Wales, John Lloyd Jones, said a new approach planned to support land management in Wales from 2011 through a scheme called Glastir would target resources more effectively on managing ‘ecosystem services’. This meant that farmers will receive payments to improve, for example, the quality of water resources, reduce flood risks and ensure that soils continue to function as carbon stores rather than sources of greenhouse gas emissions.