HC Deb 24 November 1955 vol 546 cc1633-4
18. Mr. Sorensen

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food his estimate of the loss in food production in this country due to lack of labour; what steps are being taken to remedy this, and to what extent the decrease in the number of farm workers is likely to continue during the next five years.

21. Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he is taking to check the continued drift of workers from agriculture.

25. Mr. Lewis

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether his attention has been drawn to the continued drift of farm workers from the land: and what action he proposes to take to maintain and extend the present labour force engaged in agricultural production.

Mr. Amory

While on some holdings the decline in the number of agricultural workers may have caused changes in cropping, I cannot estimate the effect on output, since the total net output has shown a rising trend while the number of workers has been declining. The Government welcome this evidence of increasing efficiency in the industry. I cannot forecast the future trend of labour supply or demand. The Government will continue to play their part in providing facilities for the training and education of farmworkers and improving amenities and public services in the countryside.

Mr. Sorensen

Does the Minister feel that the wage rates have something to do with the decline? Is he aware that it is reported in many quarters that the departure of men from the land is accelerating almost every month? In those circumstances, will he not pay special attention to ways and means by which he can bring them back to the land?

Mr. Amory

I have no power to fix farm wages. Many factors enter into this matter. One is mechanisation and another is undoubtedly the pull of other industries.

Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

In view of the fact that, according to the Minister's own figures, there are 26,100 fewer regular full-time male workers in agriculture compared with a year ago, does the right hon. Gentleman not realise that a critical stage has now been reached at which the drift from the land cannot be made up by the mechanisation to which he referred?

Mr. Amory

I am not sure that I agree entirely with the hon. and gallant Gentleman, because it is impossible to assess how much can be made up by mechanisation. The fact remains that the productivity in agriculture continues to increase.

Mr. Lewis

Has the Minister's attention been drawn to the statement made by the General Secretary of the National Union of Agricultural Workers, who obviously knows much about this matter and who says he is very concerned about it? Will the right hon. Gentleman take the opportunity to meet the general secretary of that union and discuss the whole problem with him? He may well be able to help the Minister in this question.

Mr. Amory

I have discussed this question informally several times with the gentleman to whom I think the hon. Gentleman refers.

Mr. Baldwin

Is my right hon. Friend aware that one of the most important steps which he can take to stop the drift from the land is to help to break down the cheap-food, 19th-century mentality which looks upon agriculture as the lowest form of life, with the consequence that the farm worker is on the lowest rung of the wages ladder instead of the highest?