Farmers quiz Conservative candidates at Welshpool Livestock Market

Glyn Davies and Owen Paterson, the Conservative candidates for Montgomeryshire and North Shropshire, called in to the market to spend the morning chatting to members of the agricultural community.

They were quizzed on a huge variety of themes, from European Common Agricultural Policies to windfarms.

The two candidates received a friendly welcome from the hundreds of farmers who were at the market for the weekly sales.

Mr Davies is a well-known farmer in the area. He said: "I wanted to give local farmers the chance to meet with the former environment minister and also let us both know about their worries for the farming industry."

One of those there to talk to the two candidates was Mark Jones, from Oswestry.

He said: "I would like to see less bureaucracy and legislation coming out of Europe. But also I think farmers would benefit from a more stable Euro."

Jonathan Wilkinson, chairman of the NFU Cymru, added: "As a dairy farmer, I am extremely concerned about milk prices. Many dairy farmers are telling me that there is not enough money coming in to pay the bills."

He also leads a campaign against planned windfarms and said he was pleased that the Conservatives had pledged to scrap subsidies on wind power.

"Talks about undergrounding the pylon between the proposed wind farms in Mid Wales and the National Grid link in Shropshire are just a red herring.

"We need to be looking at other forms or renewable energy such as tidal power. Wales is well placed to offer an alternative energy source based on tidal energy."

Mr Paterson said: "The wind subsidies are wrong and are taking money from the poorest in the constituency whose taxes are being used to give to the richest, in the form of subsidies for their wind turbines."