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Your Landscape Needs You - Welsh Dairy Event
17/10/06

Buy into the view as you reach for your daily pinta. The message from Welsh Dairy Event President and CLA regional director Jonathan Andrews is unequivocal.



Welsh Dairy Show

He stresses that the consumer needs to invest in the landscape with every purchase he or she makes. And there should be a greater awareness of the very real threats to that landscape posed by the dire economic situation afflicting dairy farmers.

"I do feel that there is a lack of awareness of the direct relationship between the pint of milk, the pound of cheese, and even the pack of butter going into the supermarket trolley and the future of this wonderful environment", he said at the opening of the Welsh Dairy Event at the United Counties Showground in Carmarthen.

"We have to get the message across to people to think local, to buy local. And it has to be realised that the landscape, our market towns, our rural communities, all depend on agriculture.

"The quality of life in rural Wales is envied throughout the UK. People strive to pay high prices for houses to buy into a lifestyle that is precariously balanced. And yet so little attention is paid to the stability of the industry that is the bedrock of that lifestyle.

"The simple fact also is that local produce is good for you. What could be better for your health than milk fresh from your local farm, cheese, butter or yoghourt lovingly produced in the Welsh countryside. And of course in terms of food miles it's good for the environment".

Mr Andrews added that he hopes the Competitions Commission will come up with some positive recommendations when it reports on its inquiry into the grocery trade. And he is also challenging the UK Government and the Welsh Assembly Government to come up with constructive ideas.

He says fiscal and planning measures have to be conducive to the creation of wealth in the countryside. Westminster of course is solely responsible for taxation and the Assembly for planning.

TB is also a huge concern. Mr Andrews urged the Welsh Assembly Government Countryside Minister, Carwyn Jones, to take strong and decisive action once the Wales TB Action Group reports on its findings in the New Year. He urged that the impending Assembly elections should not be a consideration in any decision on badger culling.

The Welsh Dairy Show which opens on October 17 is a showcase for delicious cheeses, fresh milk and a variety of wild and wonderful Welsh products, as well as some of the finest dairy cattle in the UK. The event attracts visitors from all over the country.

link National Primestock Show 2006
link A “Sell Out” for Livestock at Countryside Live
link Sparky Ignites Ringside Crowds at 2005 Primestock Show

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