BRECON and Radnorshire AM Kirsty Williams has said the county’s farmers are struggling through an agricultural recession.

The Welsh Liberal Democrat leader has backed calls from farming unions and urged supermarkets to pay what she called a ’fair price’ for meat as well as milk, which has hit the headlines.

Farmers across the UK have staged protests at supermarkets as milk prices have fallen while Ms Williams said local producers have been hit by falling prices for meat.

She said: "The industry is also concerned about meat prices for those farmers locally selling Welsh beef and lamb. Indeed few sectors have escaped the current agricultural recession, with lamb down £25 to £30 per head on the year and the milk price plunging from 34p-a-litre in early 2014 to barely 20p-a-litre now.

"I very much sympathise with farmers’ concerns over this issue, and following the protests they have held recently, would like to see supermarkets working to help those who supply the goods to their stores, as well as those who buy them.

"The prices currently being paid to our farmers for their dairy and meat produce is simply untenable, and is very much a concern when considering the future of the agricultural sector.

"We must do all we can to protect the future of farming in this country, which is crucial to the economy in Mid Wales.

"As consumers we also need to be aware of where our goods are coming from and if we do not like the policy of the supermarket or shop we are in, vote with our feet and go elsewhere."

Farming union NFU Cymru has with other farming unions across Britain called for action from government, retailers and the European Union.

It wants the government to take action to ensure that contracts to all farmers are longer-term and ’fairer’ in apportioning risk and reward. The union says current contracts place all the risk on the farmer who see ’very little’ of the reward.

Unions also want the government to put in place labelling rules to make it clear which products are imported and which are British as well as support the marketing of British food abroad and opening of new export markets.

Retailers have been urged to demonstrate they are paying farmers a fair price and have been warned British produced food, demanded by consumers, could disappear without fair pricing and support such as clearer labelling.

The European Union’s council of agriculture ministers is due to hold an emergency meeting on September 7 and the unions have called for UK ministers to ’stand up’ for farming and ensure European safety nets are at a ’proper level’ as well as take action to underwrite the short term credo position of vulnerable farmers.

The public have also been thanked by the unions for their support and urged to continue to ask retailers what they are doing to ensure farmers receive a fair price and to keep buying British produce.