The National Farmers Union is fighting hard to tell the true farming story to the public, members of the Pembroke County branch heard at their annual meeting.

Dai Davies, president of the NFU in Wales, touched on a wide range of issues which union delegates and staff were presently dealing with when he addressed the agm at Agriculture House, Haverfordwest, recently.

He said there was much false information being bandied about and the NFU was constantly having to counter it with sound scientific facts.

These issues ranged from the safe disposal of sheep dips to the levels of methane supposedly produced by farm animals, which was raised at a Friends of the Earth conference.

The retiring chairman, Glyn Jones, summarised the most memorable events of the past year which had included celebrating the centenary of the union at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

He had also headed talks with political leaders and tackled various matters with the Countryside Council for Wales, Environmental Agency, vets, police and trading standards officers.

He went on to praise the considerable amount of work undertaken by union staff on behalf of individual members and groups. He also praised the service of solicitors and planning consultants who were constantly on call to offer best possible advice and assistance as and when needed.

Mr Jones also made special mention of the sterling support being given by Peter Howells, the union’s policy adviser for the three West Wales branches.

Tributes were paid to the outgoing chairman by his successor, Mike McNamara, and a vote of thanks was proposed by David James, the newly-appointed county branch vice-chairman.

The annual dinner of the NFU’s Pembroke County branch was held at the Nant-y-ffin Motel on Friday, November 20th, when the guest speaker was Jonathan Jones, Visit Wales’ director of tourism and marketing.