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Farms may lose out on vital Euro support
 Traditional family farms may lose out |
Farms across Wales could be about to lose out on vital European support payments, the Farmers' Union of Wales said.
The union said that the National Assembly's agriculture division is struggling to find funding for their rural development programme.
They said that, through no fault of their own, struggling Welsh farmers may be penalised for the Government's lack of initiative in requesting a greater allocation of European funds.
"Reports in the press speculate that the cut in direct payments to farmers could be as much as five per cent. This is a disgrace," said FUW Land Use Officer Rhian Nowell-Phillips.
Funds re-routed
The FUW says it has discovered that some of the funds allocated to direct subsidy payments may go elsewhere, due to shortfalls in the budget allocated by Europe to the UK.
"The UK's allocation of 154 million Euros - three and a half per cent of the European budget for Rural Development Plans for the period of 2000- 2006 has meant that the area is significantly underfunded," she added.
"Schemes like the HLCA, Tir Gofal, marketing and processing are vital to the sustainability of farming and our rural areas."
Moral obligation
She said it was disappointing that the UK had been unable to exploit the full range of measures available under Rural Development Regulations.
The FUW wants the Treasury to fund any financial shortfall to ensure the maxiumum number of measures can be implemented and fully resourced.
Rhian Nowell-Phillips said the union believed the Government had a moral obligation to fund an adequate rural development programme.
Otherwise traditional family farms could lose out, she added.
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 | 21 Sep 99 | Wales |
| UK farmers struggling to survive |
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| Farmers' Union of Wales |
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