As the Farmers' Union of Wales marks 70 years since our foundation in 1955, January kicked off our celebrations in style with the return of our annual Farmhouse Breakfast Week.

It was a double celebration this year, as we also celebrated fifteen years since our first county Farmhouse Breakfast Week in Caernarfonshire in 2010. It’s great that the event has grown from strength to strength over the past decade and a half, and the hard work of FUW staff, members and volunteers, together with the generosity of local businesses, is at the heart of that success.

This year, 24 farmhouse breakfast events were held across Wales, raising over £20,000 to be shared between the Wales Air Ambulance and other local causes and appeals. It was great to see so many farmers and the wider community turn out in droves in cafes, village halls and farmhouses across Wales to have a catch-up over a plate of delicious Welsh produce.

A particular success this year was the Cardiff Farmhouse Breakfast, with a range of key stakeholders present, as well as a significant number of Senedd Members, including the First Minister, Eluned Morgan MS. At a time of growing frustration and disillusionment within the sector, the Cardiff Breakfast is key in providing an opportunity to take the concerns of our farmers and rural communities to the heart of Welsh politics.

At the event, the FUW President welcomed the opportunity to highlight a number of challenges facing farmers; including the proposed changes to inheritance tax, the continued scourge of bTB, and the desperate need for an adequately funded Sustainable Farming Scheme. We also heard from the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies MS, who again outlined his commitment to a collaborative approach with the sector going forward.

On the topic of breakfasts, we were also grateful to our Carmarthenshire County Chair, Ann Davies MP, who, unable to attend our Llanarthne breakfast, organised her own impromptu FUW breakfast at Westminster. How great it was to see a number of Welsh MPs support the event - and even ones from Northern Ireland and Scotland, too!

Beyond the breakfast success, January also provided a timely reminder of the volatility of the sector to outside influences, particularly in regard to animal health. For many, the documented case of Foot & Mood Disease in Germany inevitably rekindled memories of 2001, and its far-reaching impact on the agriculture sector and the countryside. Closer to home, the Avian Influenza continues to be a worry, particularly with the restrictions following a case in Shropshire. In an increasingly globalised world, border security, and vigilance within the farming sector have never been more important.