Conservation (Hansard, 19 February 1987)

§ 6. Mr. Ron Davies
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it the policy of his Department to hold regular meetings with international bodies on conservation issues affecting agriculture.

§ Mr. Donald Thompson
It is already the policy of my Department, in close co-operation with the Department of the Environment, to participate fully with interested or international bodies, according to their timetables, in discussions on conservation issues affecting agriculture.

§ Mr. Davies
Now that the Minister and his Department have had time to reflect on the fiasco of last week's statement on the future of agricultural land, is he aware of the damage that he is doing to the future of our agriculture by refusing to give proper consideration to questions, of environmental protection and conservation? Will he acknowledge that there can be no secure future for agriculture until his Department gives proper consideration to those questions, and does he accept that the best way to secure that input into his Department's thinking is to arrange to meet on a regular basis public bodies which have conservation as their prime concern?

§ Mr. Thompson
The best protection of the rural economy and the environment is a properly informed agricultural Department, such as MAFF. Yesterday the hon. Gentleman attended the debate on environmentaly sensitive areas and he knows that MAFF and the Countryside Commission have a venture in the Broads to encourage the conservation of the grazing marshes. The farm and countryside initiative is useful for the environment, the code of good agricultural practice avoids water pollution, and there are guidelines on housed livestock, all of which help conservation. I could continue at length if you, Mr. Speaker, would allow me.

§ Mr. Conway
Does my hon. Friend agree that the best way to ensure conservation is to use the voluntary method practised by those with the greatest expertise at conserving the countryside, namely, the farming community?

§ Mr. Thompson
Any basis for a beautiful countryside, which is what most people regard as environmentally acceptable, must be the farming community. They must form the basis of any such policy.

§ Mr. Maclennan
Is the Minister aware that last week, at the annual general meeting of the NFU, the Minister of State, the right hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal (Mr. Gummer), said that he believed that decisions on the countryside should be taken by those who live there, not by weekenders? How does the Minister square that with the decision announced by the Secretary of State for the Environment that MAFF will no longer be consulted on planning matters in the countryside?

§ Mr. Thompson
The first and second parts of the hon. Gentleman's question do not screw together properly, which is perhaps an alliance failing. Weekenders go to the country to live in their caravans at weekends. The beauty of the countryside should be determined by people who spend all week working in and about the country and rural areas.