§ 6. Mr. Bill Walkerasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what he anticipates will be the total hectarage of plantings for the 1980 ware potato crop.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithIt is too early to give a reliable estimate, but it appears likely that plantings will be somewhat bigger than the target area of 168,000 hectares.
§ Mr. WalkerI thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Does he agree that the major problem for farmers and industry this year will be imports of potatoes from the Continent? Does he agree that, unlike the French, who ignored the European Court's decision on sheepmeat, we have accepted the decision on potato imports?
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithI am sure that my hon. Friend recognises that we have been open to the import of main crop potatoes for the past year. The quantity of potatoes that has arrived has not been enough to disrupt our market. I am sure that my hon. Friend's constituents recognise that there is a two-way trade in potatoes and that a large quantity of seed potatoes from his constituency are exported
§ Mr. John Home RobertsonIs the Minister impressed, as I am, by the great faith shown by those farmers who have laid out vast amounts of money in planting their acreage of potatoes before they even know what this year's guarantee price will be? How soon will the Minister make an announcement on the guarantee price for the current yield crop?
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithThe announcement on the guarantee price has been delayed because we are still waiting to see 1729 whether a potato regime is worked out for this year within Europe. We hope, in the absence of a regime, to make an announcement as soon as possible.