This week’s column is written by NFU Cymru director John Mercer.

It is hard to believe that another year has come to an end and I do hope you’ve all managed to enjoy some time with your families over the Christmas period.

Before the NFU Cymru team took a well-earned break after an extremely busy year, it was fantastic to be able to get back out and meet with members at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair.

Having not been able to attend events like this one over the past two years due to the pandemic we have had to rely on virtual engagements to meet with stakeholders, government and our members, and so to be able to have a socially distanced chat with friends and be able to meet face-to-face again was great.

The Royal Welsh Winter Fair is all about the livestock and as usual the standard of the animals and carcasses on display was first class, once again illustrating that Wales really is world leading in producing livestock of the highest quality.

When you combine this with the range of quality food and drink products on display in the food hall then it really encapsulates what a great story, we in Wales, have to tell the world about our food and drink sector.

As an organisation, NFU Cymru is very ambitious for our sector, and we want to produce more domestically and export more to the world and so we welcome the launch of ’A Vision for the food and drink industry’ by rural affairs minister, Lesley Griffiths.

This will build on the sector’s success in Wales with the key aim of helping ensure a flourishing food and drink industry with a global reputation for excellence.

The vision’s objectives include growing the Welsh food and drink industry’s value to £8.5 billion by 2025.

I really believe that this target can be met and let’s not lose sight of the fact that the last target for 2014 - 2020 was £7bn which was achieved with record sales of £7.5bn.

It will however require a genuine partnership approach from government, recognition that the food and drink sector is built on farming and therefore a future agricultural policy that enables the primary producer to thrive and be the strong, stable platform needed to build the whole sector upon. These principles must be embedded within the Agricultural Bill which is due to be introduced in the spring.

Finally, I would like to wish you all a happy and healthy new year and look forward to seeing many of you in 2022.