HC Deb 14 December 1954 vol 535 cc1732-40

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. T. G. D. Galbraith.]

11.49 p.m.

Mr. Robert Crouch (Dorset, North)

I make no apology for calling the attention of the House at this late hour to the necessity for further research into our grasslands. There is no doubt that grass is the most important crop which we grow in this country, and it is unfortunate that so many people think that, because a field is green, it is covered with good grass. There is no doubt that during the last 50 years a great deal of research has taken place, but I still feel that there is a great deal which yet remains to be done.

I think it was most unfortunate that early in this century the then Board of Agriculture advised against the use of nitrogen for the improvement of our grassland. In this present generation we owe a great deal to the work that has been done by Sir George Stapledon and his colleagues at Aberystwyth; and that work is still being carried on. At the Ministry's grassland research station at Hurley, near Maidenhead, Dr. William Davies is still continuing that work, and bringing to us further knowledge about better cultivation of our grasslands.

I think it is rather unfortunate that the majority of this advanced research work is not being done by the Ministry, but by private enterprise. I know that private enterprise has many advantages over a Government Department in carrying out research work; and that the research workers can do field work, and leave the centre, and perhaps arrive at results more quickly that is possible through the Civil Service. But I do feel that after this work has been carried out the Ministry should see that those results are more widely known.

Today the yield of grass that we get from some of our better farms is astounding. Unfortunately about four-fifths of our grassland is on a very low level. I believe that if only we could bring the majority of this land up to the average yield of our better grassland we could quite easily double our present livestock production. I know that the Ministry does give advice free to the farming community regarding the requirements of the soil, whether it requires this or that fertiliser, and so on. The Ministry makes grants towards buying lime, basic slag, and other fertilisers.

Not sufficient people are making use of this advanced knowledge, however. I should like to call the attention of the House to the fact that our best grassland farmers, by applying 4 cwt. of superphosphate to permanent pasture at low level, and 2 cwt. of muriate of potash, then in February and throughout the season applying 12 cwt. of nitro-chalk in three applications of 4 cwt. per acre in March, June and August, can produce sufficient food from an acre for 50 cow days. From an acre of permanent pasture 61½ cwt. of dried grass can be obtained. Off new leys, as advocated and sponsored by Sir George Stapledon, the yield has been as high as five tons, compared with probably a yield of about 20 cwt. an acre off our general permanent pasture. In addition to the harvesting of dried grass, a grazing period is left which gives an average of about 50 cow days to the acre.

I know our weather is very erratic. I know it has a great effect on the amount of grass that is produced. But some of that effect can be overcome by the application of more fertiliser than is used at present. We should have someone in charge of grass utilisation. We can provide the grass, but we want more knowledge about the best way of using it. The cheapest and easiest way to use grass is of course to let stock consume it where it is produced, but it is not possible to do that throughout the whole of the year. We also have to make provision for preserving our grass for the Winter months.

The old method of preserving grass was to make it into hay for feeding in the winter months. Making hay is really drying mature grass stems. Then we have had the development of the better making of silage as a second method of preserving grass for the winter months, and a great advance has been made in that direction. I call to the attention of the House the new method evolved as a result of some work by a Mr. Elmhirst, near Barnsley, in Yorkshire, started in 1950: that is, to make silage by a pickup bag.

Just as the combine harvester was introduced in the early 1930s, we are, in the 1950s, seeing a more efficient way of making silage than anything we have had in the past. By placing an extra sprocket and a little more reinforcement in the baler chamber we can make a bale weighing about 50 lb. to 60 lb. and about 18 inches in length. It compresses the grass, and is picked up immediately behind the grass cutter. In that way it can be picked up and carried back to the homestead, and put in a pit for feeding to the stock in the winter.

It has the advantage that the feed can be taken out in little blocks, and the worker does not have to struggle—as he does at the moment—to cut it out and feed it to the animals. It is also very much easier to control the amount fed to the cattle. I believe this method is coming forward, and in a few years will be the method used.

The third method of preserving grass for winter use is by drying. I believe we are drying about 200,000 tons or 300,000 tons of grass a year for sale. The majority of it is fed to stock, but there are other uses for dried grass. I believe it is used for making nylon. dye-making and I believe it is also used in processes of developing and making atomic energy. There will, no doubt, be uses for dried grass. We should have someone who can tell us which is the best way of utilising our grass when we want to preserve it for the winter months.

We shall require the development of more cold storage because dried grass loses some of its protein content on coming into close contact with warmer air. We shall require cold storage, not only for grass for the winter months, but for preserving grass-fed meat. It will probably prove to be more economic to kill our well-grazed animals—sheep and cattle—in the autumn and preserve them in cold storage than to keep them and feed them throughout the winter months.

Intensive grass farming will result in a new and better balanced agriculture. More livestock can be kept on a fewer acres, and more acres can be devoted to food for direct human consumption. Grass needs water. Our ancestors developed the valley lands, and had wide- spread areas of water meadows. Unfortunately these, because of the high cost of labour, have almost gone out of existence. There is a future for the development of irrigation by modern methods to ensure that growth shall continue during the dry months.

Mr. W. M. F. Vane (Westmorland)

Will the hon. Member agree that before we start putting water on to land which is too dry we ought to drain the hundreds of thousands of acres of land which are lying under water?

Mr. Crouch

I agree, but I do suggest that, with the use of modern fertilisers and cultivation, our drier chalk land could grow more grass more quickly than low, waterlogged land.

In respect of our corn crops we have been successful, since the war, in developing hormones to destroy weeds. Weeds, unfortunately, are too prevalent in our grasslands. I was interested to learn recently that Messrs. May and Baker, the firm which developed M. & B., which has saved so many lives, particularly from pneumonia, have developed a weed killer for use on grassland which does not destroy the clover. Destruction of the clover has been a great worry to us in the past.

Last week I attended the Smithfield Club's show. Not unnaturally I looked to see what publications were for sale on the stand of the Ministry of Agriculture at that show. In spite of my search, I could find only one publication—an excellent one—on grassland management. I wonder how widely it is read. I notice that it was published in August, 1952, and reprinted in February, 1953. It would be interesting if the Joint Parliamentary Secretary could let me know how many copies of this publication have been sold. I should also like him to say whether the Ministry is going to prohibit importation of the dreadful Oregon rye-grass, which is no better than bent. With the good grass seed we have in this country we no longer need to import that type of grass seed.

I would be glad if he would say whether he does not think the time has come when we ought to advertise in the agricultural, provincial, and national Press, the result of the work which has been carried out by our grassland officers. By continuous and well-placed advertising industry sells its products. We ought to do the same.

By doing much more to advertise the result of the work which has been done, the Minister would achieve much more than he does at present by having officers to chase up farmers to increase production. More will be achieved by encouraging and giving examples than by driving farmers. In my humble opinion, there is no greater asset that the nation can have, that the individual can have, than good, fertile grassland.

12.5 a.m.

Mr. Roderic Bowen (Cardigan)

I am most grateful to the hon. Member for Dorset, North (Mr. Crouch) for raising this subject and for being sufficiently brief to enable me to underline one or two of the points he made. I am grateful to him for his reference to the work which we have been doing at Aberystwyth at the plant breeding station during the last 35 years. I refer especially to the work of Sir George Stapledon and his successor Dr. Jenkin and those now responsible for the work of that institution.

That station has just moved to new and far more spacious quarters, and I hope that the Ministry will give every possible assistance to enable the station to expand and to continue its excellent work. It has done particularly good work in the investigation of grass and clover breeding, and the sponsorship of a limited number of high-grade strains. Work which I should like to see having far greater publicity than it has received to date is the work of seed multiplication and distribution. There we have the link between the research side of the station and the purely practical application of that research work.

In my part of the world at the moment we are very conscious of the whole problem of grass utilisation. I was at home last week-end, and we talked in terms of importing into the area by special train thousand's of tons of hay at a time, to keep our stock alive. There is a psychological moment for doing most things. If the Ministry want the co-operation of the farming community in trying to seek the best way of utilising grass in different areas, now is the moment. The farming community is acutely conscious of the need for looking closely into the problem, in view of the disastrous harvest which we have just had. I hope that the Minister will indicate that something will be done to speed up the research into the whole problem of utilisation, especially in grass drying.

12.7 a.m.

The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (Mr. G. R. H. Nugent)

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Dorset, North (Mr. Crouch) on raising the important and interesting subject of our grassland. I certainly can confirm his statement that grass is indeed our most important crop and that it is, in fact, the basis of our whole farming. The figures showing the area of our grassland make this clear.

In 1939 there were 2.07 million acres of temporary leys; today the figure is 3.87 million. Today there are 1078 million acres of permanent grass; in 1939 there were 15.7 million. Today we have 1465 million acres of grassland as against 17.7 million in pre-war years, and then there is an extra 5.5 million acres of rough grazing. Out of a total of some 30 million acres of agricultural land in England and Wales, It is evident that grassland produces by far our biggest crop.

Our policy is quite definitely to help farmers to make the best use of the crop. Everything we do is devoted to that end. The first link in the chain is the research work. My hon. Friend referred to Aberystwyth and to the grassland station at Hurley. The hon. and learned Member for Cardigan (Mr. Bowen) also spoke of Aberystwyth. There are some five other research stations also doing most valuable work. I may say straight away that the hon. and learned Member for Cardigan need not worry. Aberystwyth represents the hall mark of quality for grass seeds. Any farmer who is thinking about buying grass seeds and can afford the extra money decides to have the Aberystwyth strain. That is an everlasting memorial to the wonderful work which has been and is being done at the Aberystwyth grassland station. The work of Sir George Stapledon is admirably carried on today by Dr. William Davies at the new grassland station at Hurley, and I hope it will continue for many years to come. That is the first link in the chain.

The second link in the chain is the experimental one. That is done primarily at the experimental husbandry farms, of which there are eight—one in each province. They have been set up in these post-war years, and on those farms research work which has been done at the research stations is tried out on a commercial scale to show whether it really works in practice.

In the same way, experimental work on a rather simpler scale is done on farms under the direction of one of the experimental farms or the advisory service direct. The farmer begins to come into the picture a little at this stage. He is invited to open days at experimental farms and on other farms where the same work is going on.

The third link in the chain is the direct link with the farmers. By advice and education from the advisory service, farmers are instructed in the proven methods of the growing, managing and conserving of grass. As to the methods of doing this, in each province there is a provincial grassland husbandry officer, who has a small staff, and it is his particular function to "preach the gospel" in his province. In every county it is the function of the advisory service generally to be available to give advice to farmers who require it on any aspect of grass growing, management or utilisation. I should record that we find an ever-increasing number of farmers make direct inquiries for the information that they want.

I readily admit to my hon. Friend that there are many farmers who still do not make these inquiries, and therefore it is our business to see that this information is disseminated as widely as possible. There are many ways in which this is done. Farm walks are arranged by county agricultural staffs, demonstrations and discussion groups are arranged, and all of them are widely advertised in the local Press.

The whole idea is to attract the farmers, many of whom do not normally seek advice, to come to these walks, demonstrations, or discussions, so that they can learn what is going on, and what technical advice is available to help them to do better on their own farms. Several county scale demonstrations are arranged in each county every year, and. in all, several hundred are arranged throughout the country.

In the last year or two some 350 fertiliser demonstrations have been set up as well on farms, by making use of the funds that the Americans kindly gave us under the Mutual Security Administration. Further, under the Conditional Aid Funds from the United States, we have been doing a large number of silage demonstrations, and I am glad to be able to state that this process of making silage, which is certainly difficult and onerous if it does not go too well, has been making good progress in recent years, and particularly this summer, which was very difficult for hay making. I have not the figures for this year. but it is certain that over 2 million tons was made, which is more than twice as much as five years ago.

It is evident that we are beginning at last to make a little progress in silage making. It is most difficult to get the small farmer to take up the job, but it is really a question of grasping the nettle; if grasped firmly enough a good job is made of it, but if it is done in a half-hearted manner, with poor material, the result is unsatisfactory and uneconomical. Progress is being made, and we shall continue to do all we can to encourage it.

In addition, we have recently made a film on grassland management and utilisation, which takes the example of four typical farms and shows how the farmers have increased profitability by better management of their grassland. It is an excellent film, which will be shown widely in the next 12 months. I am certain it will be attractive, educational and helpful to many thousands of farmers. We are greatly helped in this field by commercial firms, outstanding among them, of course, I.C.I., who have set a wonderful example. It has its own research station; I suppose every farmer in the world knows Jealott's Hill. I.C.I. has other places in the country, and in the last two or three years has done exceptionally good work on the better and greater use of fertilisers. It has a number of farms for which it keeps accounts, which have been helped to greater profitability by the more scientific use of fertilisers, and has been most helpful in putting over the story in demonstrations. It has also made a film, on similar lines to our own, which is very good indeed.

All this technical work is done to help farmers to improve their grassland management. Added to it we have a considerable range of administrative help starting with the drainage of farms, which is absolutely basic—no farmer in the world can farm against water. We continue with 50 per cent. drainage grants to promote schemes to the value of more than £3 million per annum. We have increased the lime subsidy, with the result that usage of lime has increased about 50 per cent. We have reintroduced the fertiliser subsidy, with the result that usage of fertilisers has increased by 30 per cent. in three years. We have brought in the ploughing-up grant for old pasture at £10 per acre, covering 40,000 acres per annum.

The utilisation of grass is only half the story for when one has grown it there are two objects to realise; the release of more land for higher tillage and the carrying of more stock. It is no use growing additional grass unless one has the stock to put on it, and, by maintaining a high level of guaranteed prices for cattle and sheep we have an increasing head of cattle and sheep in the country. The number of sheep has increased by 2 million since 1951, and the number of calves by about 130,000 in the past year, in England and Wales.

The Question having been proposed after Ten o'Clock on Tuesday evening, and the Debate having continued for half an hour, Mr. SPEAKER adjourned the House without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.

Adjourned at Nineteen Minutes past Twelve o'Clock.