§ 47. Mr. Tinkerasked the Minister of Agriculture if farmers make returns to his Department of all crops they set and if cabbages are included; and whether returns are made of the acreage of cabbages gathered and what is left on the ground because there is no market for them.
§ The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture (Mr. Tom Williams)Returns of the acreage of cabbage, as of other crops, are regularly obtained by my right hon. Friend's Department. They relate to the acreage at the date of the return. As regards the last part of the question, returns of the amounts of cabbage marketed and left in the ground are not made by individual growers, but estimates of the proportion of the crop marketed each month during the season in the various growing areas are furnished by the local crop reporting committees.
§ Mr. TinkerCan nothing be done to make use of all the cabbages which are being left to be ploughed in?
§ Mr. WilliamsCurrent reports do not indicate unusually large acreages being left un marketed.