HC Deb 20 January 1983 vol 35 cc466-7
6. Mr. Robert Atkins

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the current average value per acre of class A agricultural land with vacant possession in England.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mrs. Peggy Fenner)

The average price of grade 1 agricultural land in England for the period January to November 1982, based on a sample of approximately 40 per cent. of vacant possession sales, was £2,689 per acre. The corresponding price for grade 2 land was £2,018 per acre.

Mr. Atkins

I am grateful for that reply. Are my right hon. and hon. Friends in the Ministry as worried as I am about the rising price of agricultural land, especially to young farmers trying to get into the industry? What hope can my right hon. Friend offer them?

Mrs. Fenner

My hon. Friend will know that we could not find time for new proposals on landlord and tenant legislation. The decline of the tenanted sector has continued for many years, but it has been accelerated by the legislation that was enacted in 1976 by the Labour Administration.

Mr. Cryer

Did not that legislation give rights to tenant farmers who could not otherwise have afforded to buy the land? Was it not a protection against greedy land speculators and institutions, which were buying and enhancing the value of agricultural land, as the Minister said? Is that not a much more potent factor in the cost of farming today than the trade union members and the farm workers whom the Government always blame for high wages? In fact, we know that farm workers are in the lowest section of wage earners in Britain.

Mrs. Fenner

No. Recent surveys by Savills and Reading university suggest that the influence of the institutions has been exaggerated. It is estimated that in recent times they have bought between 8 and 12 per cent. of farm land put up for sale, but their total holding is only about 2 per cent. of agricultural land in Great Britain.

Mr. Heddle

I should like to revert to the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Preston, North (Mr. Atkins). Does my hon. Friend agree that generous and realistic facilities are available to young farmers who wish to get on the farming ladder through the Agricultural Credit Corporation? Will she do all that she can to ensure that those facilities are widely advertised?

Mrs. Fenner

I agree with my hon. Friend, but it is important that any amending legislation should improve the prospects for young people who wish to enter farming on their own account.

Mr. Hardy

Does the Minister agree that the position described is a clear manifestation of the consequences of operating a free market economy? How can the young farmer, who may be extremely well equipped to take over a holding, afford land, even with the facility mentioned by the hon. Member for Lichfield and Tamworth (Mr. Heddle)? Does the hon. Lady accept that most would-be young farmers could afford to buy only as much grade 1 agricultural land as would fill a window box?

Mrs. Fenner

I see a bleak future for them if the Labour party proceeds with any idea of nationalising agricultural land.