The farming organisation is urging the new Welsh government to rethink its position on water quality requirements.

NFU Cymru has described current pollution regulations as impractical and says changes are necessary.

This request features in the group’s Growing Together Senedd election manifesto, which has formed the basis for question-and-answer sessions between election candidates and farmers and has been handed to every person standing for election.

In a recently released video, NFU Cymru’s Carmarthenshire County chairman Haydn Evans explained the impact of the rules described as scheduling farming by dates.

Mr. Evans described the previous autumn as one of the best he had known in thirty years working in agriculture.

He explained that in late October, following a late silage harvest, the ground conditions and weather temperatures were suitable for applying nutrients to the land and no rainfall was forecast.

At that point, adding nutrients would have offered two benefits—it would have enhanced the soil quality while also easing the pressure on his slurry storage containers, but the rules stopped them from proceeding.

He pointed out that farmers are facing an unworkable position.

Mr. Evans added that as food producers, they want to play their part in improving water quality.

He said they have a duty to both the environment and their family farm businesses to have sensible regulations, but at present these rules are not working properly.

The group is asking for an exemption from the 170 kilogram organic nitrogen per hectare limit.

It also supports a reasonable and targeted approach to legislation tackling water quality issues where evidence shows such measures are required.

NFU Cymru maintains these changes are essential for protecting employment in farming and throughout the wider supply chain.