THERE were no shortage of strong messages for European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan as he toured the Royal Welsh Show on its opening day.

lPlaid Cymru’s Shadow Minister for Rural Affairs, Llyr Gruffydd AM called on him to acknowledge that there is a crisis in the Welsh dairy sector on the day that he visits the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show.

Mr Hogan has been widely criticised for refusing to acknowledge the true scale of problems facing the industry. He was criticised for claiming in January that milk prices were holding up well and there was no dairy crisis, and was further challenged to make the long overdue recognition by MEPs in the European Parliament earlier this month.

Plaid Cymru led a debate on the farming industry in the Assembly on Wednesday where it called on the Welsh Government to do more to support Welsh farmers by using the Rural Development Plan to support sectors that have been most affected and by ensuring more of the food purchased by public bodies was Welsh produce.

Llyr Gruffydd also echoed messages from the farming unions saying that supermarkets must play a greater role in promoting and valuing Welsh produce.

Mr Gruffydd AM said: “With devastating milk price cuts at farm gate level, the short-term fortunes of dairy production is pretty grim. No business can carry on producing at a loss for very long and it is time for the Commissioner to acknowledge the scale of the crisis. Producers have seen more than a third knocked off their milk price in less than 12 months and this is having huge repercussions for the rural economy.

“After seeing the Tory UK government cut the overall CAP budget by 10% and then a Labour Welsh Government cutting direct subsidies to Welsh farmers by £1/4bn, plummeting farmgate prices come at a most difficult time.”

NFU Cymru said there was an urgent need to ensure that the EU CAP simplification exercise provides real benefits to farmers on the ground in Wales when representatives meet with him at the show.

The implementation of direct payments in Wales, which includes the Greening, Basic Payment Scheme, National Reserve and Young Entrants schemes, has caused no end of confusion for farmers. The complications associated with this year’s single application form have left farmers in fear of hefty penalties that may result from minor inputting errors.

NFU Cymru asked the Commissioner to urgently reconsider the burden that EU direct payments regulations place on farmers.

NFU Cymru President Stephen James said, “The rushed implementation of a totally new set of schemes in 2015, the lateness of crucial Commission guidance documents and a number of new mapping requirements, leave farmers incredibly concerned as to whether they have properly understood the rules associated with this year’s CAP. It is vital the EU auditors and inspectors are aware of this, and that they accept that none of this was of the farmers doing and they need to provide some tolerances in this, the first year of implementation of the new CAP.”