HEDD PUGH has been elected as the new Chairman of NFU Cymru’s Rural Affairs board after Bernard Llewellyn stood down from the position. Hedd is an upland beef and sheep farmer in Dinas Mawddwy and keeps Welsh Mountain sheep as well as cross breeds and has a small herd of suckler cows. Away from the farm, Hedd also keeps a busy diary and is currently the NFU Cymru representative on Wales YFC council. He is on the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society council, is a Life President of Meirionnydd YFC and is also a member on two boards: Welsh Lamb and Beef Producers in Aberystwyth and Llandrillo Menai College. Hedd Pugh said, “I am delighted to have been elected as Chairman of NFU Cymru’s Rural Affairs board and I very much look forward to building on the work done previously by the board.
“I must thank Bernard Llewellyn, the retiring Chairman, for all his hard work over the past ten years. He has been an outstanding chairman ensuring that the voice of farmers has been heard across a number of key environmental areas including water quality, biodiversity and climate change. A keen advocate of farm scale renewable energy generation, Bernard has worked hard to highlight the barriers facing farmers in implementing schemes and he has been instrumental in helping to secure a tiered system of charging for water abstraction for hydro schemes in Wales last year.
“The Rural Affairs board has a strong mix of members from across Wales with wide ranging expertise who are eager to look at the big challenges that we currently face, whether it be open access to land, the Nitrates Directive or the proposed changes to the Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil (SSAFO) Regulations. There are also opportunities and as a board, we are keen to actively shape the implementation of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. It is a busy time for the board and I am looking forward to influencing and challenging the decisions coming out of Welsh Government.” Glyn Davies from Ceredigion was elected as Rural Affairs Board Vice- Chairman for the next two years .
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