§ 34. Mr. Collinsasked the Minister of Agriculture if he is aware that wheat from the recent harvest is being sold in East Anglia at £21 per ton compared with the average guaranteed price of £30 15s. per ton; if he is aware that this disparity discourages farmers from holding on to good grain in the hope of better prices; and if he has made an estimate in the light of these figures of the approximate cost to the taxpayer of grain subsidies on the 1954 harvest.
Mr. AmoryThe answer to the first part of the Question is "Yes, Sir," but I do not accept the suggestion in the second part. The standard price for wheat is varied according to a seasonal scale which gives farmers an incentive to hold on to their wheat. The cost of the subsidy payments on home-grown grains of the 1954 harvest to the end of the current financial year was estimated at £61 million in the revised estimate of the Ministry of Food presented on 31st March (H.C. 135).
§ Mr. CollinsIs the Minister aware that many farmers cannot afford to hold on to their grain, and that even good grain is being sold at the figure mentioned in the Question? Does he not think that, since this money does not benefit the consumer, it can only be going to the millers, and that the continuance of this policy will be disastrous to the taxpayer, to the farmer and to the agricultural industry as a whole?
Mr. AmoryIn the light of experience so far, I see no justification for reviewing the present arrangements.
Mr. T. WilliamsIs it not true that at the present moment all the bargaining power is in the hands of the millers?