The Farmers’ Union of Wales is looking forward to a busy virtual Royal Welsh Show week and is hosting a variety of webinars discussing rural housing, climate change, mental health and the future of digital connectivity for Wales.

In addition to the webinars, the union is also launching a lobbying tool through its website, allowing members and the public to write to their elected representatives highlighting their grave concerns about the free trade deal with Australia.

The first of the webinars on Monday, July 12, is 'Tackling the rural housing crisis' at 7pm via Zoom, which will also be shown on the Royal Welsh Show website on Monday, July 19, at 12.30pm.

“Rural communities across the UK have been under pressure due to second home ownership and related effects for decades, especially in ‘honeypot’ areas such as national parks, but the pandemic has accelerated the trend, causing rapid house-price inflation and placing rural houses even further beyond the financial reach of rural and agricultural communities,” said FUW president Glyn Roberts.

On Tuesday, July 13, a panel of experts will discuss ‘Producing food and looking after the environment’. The event, which is being held at 7pm via Zoom, and will also be shown at the upcoming virtual Royal Welsh Show on Tuesday, July 20, at 12.30pm.

The FUW made a commitment at the Royal Welsh Show in 2017 to keep the spotlight on mental health issues for as long as it remains a problem in our rural communities. Approaching the fifth year of awareness raising, FUW will be joined by representatives from the DPJ Foundation, Farming Community Network, Tir Dewi and the RABI to ask 'How are you doing'?

The virtual event takes place on Thursday, July 15, at 7pm via Zoom and will also be shown at the virtual Royal Welsh Show on Thursday, July 22, at 12.30pm.

Following a survey, run by the National Federation of Women's Institutes-Wales, CLA, Farmers’ Union of Wales, NFU Cymru and Wales YFC, which showed that over 50 per cent of respondents from a rural area felt that the internet they had access to was not fast and reliable, a special digital connectivity event is taking place to discuss the findings and the future of digital connectivity for Wales.

The event, titled ‘Digital connectivity: Addressing the digital divide between rural and urban areas’ takes place on Monday, July 19, at 12.30pm via Zoom and is streamed through the Royal Welsh Show event website.

For more information on the events please contact FUW head of communications Anne Dunn – anne.dunn@fuw.org.uk