Winter Cereals (Hansard, 21 April 1983)

§ 9. Sir Peter Mills
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what acreage of winter cereals has been sown in the current year compared to the previous three years.

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
The only information so far available is the area of wheat and barley sown in Great Britain by 1 December 1982. That was 2.42 million hectares, compared with 2.10, 2.20 and 2.46 million hectares by the same date in 1979, 1980 and 1981 respectively.

§ Sir Peter Mills
I thank my right hon. Friend for that information. Do not those figures show a disturbing trend in British agriculture towards more and more cereals and less and less stock? Is not the imbalance in British agriculture serious? Will he bear in mind that that imbalance has a spin-off in terms of the preservation of the rural scene? Does he agree that we must redouble our efforts to ensure that we get the balance right?

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
My hon. Friend knows that I share his anxiety about the balance of British agriculture. I am sure he will agree that recently we have succeeded in achieving lower price increases for cereals than for other products. I am delighted that that differential is to be continued, according to the proposals from the Commission on the price fixing. I assure my hon. Friend that we shall continue to fight for that.

§ Mr. Spearing
Is it not a fact that, since 1973, wheat acreage has increased by about 50 per cent. and that we now export about 1 million tonnes of wheat each year, whereas in 1973 we hardly exported any? How can the Minister hope to pursue the objectives that he has just mentioned when there is an open-ended subsidy from the CAP of £70 to £80 for every tonne of grain that is exported from Britain?

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
I am sure that the hon. Gentleman wants to be fair and will acknowledge that one of the great successes of our cereal industry is the way in which it has adopted new techniques, varieties, chemicals and fertilisers. To a considerable extent, the increase in our production of cereals is related to much greater efficiency. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will acknowledge that.

§ Sir Hector Monro
Although I appreciate the undoubted efforts of my right hon. Friend to improve the differentials between grain and livestock, does he agree that we have not moved fast enough? Can he now increase the incentives for livestock, even if we cannot do anything now about grain this season?

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
As my hon. Friend represents an important livestock area, I know that he will welcome what we have achieved in the past few years with regard to the improvement of the beef premium, the considerable improvements in hill livestock compensatory amounts and the introduction of a sheepmeat regime, which is of enormous benefit to the consumer and producer. That catalogue does not demonstrate a lack of interest in our livestock industry.

§ Mr. Jay
In view of the wise words of the hon. Member for Devon, West (Sir P. Mills), is the Minister aware that, in the past year, barley grown in Sussex has 406 been exported to the Soviet Union at about half the price that the British farmer or pig producer across the road has to pay? Is that sane economics?

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will acknowledge the efforts that we have made in the Community to restrain price increases for products, such as cereals, which are in surplus. The Commission has set an objective, which we support, that cereals should be more closely aligned to world prices. I should like that objective to be achieved.

§ Mr. Maclennan
I recognise the force of what the Minister said about increased productivity and improvement in techniques contributing to the increase in cereal growing. With respect to the period of time that he quoted, can he say to what extent grassland has been brought under the plough?

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
Some extra grassland has been brought under the plough as a result of the expansion of cereal production. The hon. Gentleman should recognise that we have as much right as any other cereal-producing country to export cereals as well as to produce them for our own consumption. One of the most encouraging developments of recent years has been the increase in exports by United Kingdom producers to countries outside the EC as well as to other EC countries.