Marc Griffiths (Llanfyllin YFC), Sion Evans & Iwan Lewis (Dyffryn Tanat YFC) were lucky enough to join Ifor Humphreys and Tom Jones on a trip to Brussels at the end of May, where they had the opportunity to meet with various organisations and learn about their work. A huge thank you to Ifor and Tom for providing this fantastic travel opportunity for Montgomery YFC members!
“We were able to attend a meeting with CEJA – the European Young Farmer movement who represent the views of young people to European policy makers.
We discovered that here we have similar issues with our European counterparts, such as access to land and capital, and the concern of reduced opportunities in rural areas. Recently since budget cuts, NFYFC have cut ties with CEJA meaning that we do not have a UK young farmer voice representing in the meetings and we thought that was a massive shame and maybe there is an opportunity there to reconnect our ties with other young farmers across Europe, especially as leaders over there are very keen to hear the thoughts of young people.
We were then lucky enough to see Tom sit on a panel in the EESC building where the panel presented and discussed a project on rural Europe that they have been working on over the last few years.
We also attended a meeting with COPA and NFU, and with the CAP Network Office to discuss current youth work and what they do to promote the voice of rural Europeans.
The following day, there was a demonstration which had been organised by Irish farmers because of new environmental and land management rules, and Iwan got involved with the protesting!
Take any opportunity you can to travel because you never know what you might learn by seeing something different. We would recommend members to take opportunities like this because you have nothing to lose – even if you just reach the interview stage, it is great practice for the next opportunity or a future job you may apply for.”
– Marc Griffiths, Llanfyllin YFC
