HC Deb 09 December 1993 vol 234 cc476-7
10. Ms Hoey

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps she has taken to help those farmers using organic methods; and if she will make a statement.

Mrs. Gillian Shephard

The Ministry provides a broad range of help to farmers using organic methods, including a substantial research and development programme. An organic aid scheme is planned under the agri-environment programme.

Ms Hoey

The Secretary of State will be aware that nearly 70 per cent. of organic food consumed in this country is imported from Europe. Is not that deplorable? Why is this country not doing more to help organic farmers? In particular, in the new aid scheme that she has announced, why have the pioneers of the organic movement, who have pioneered methods, been excluded from help while it is being given to people who will now make money from the fact that they have been polluting their land for some time?

Mrs. Shephard

I am sure that the hon. Lady knows that organic farmers also benefit from the help currently available to all other farmers. I am also sure that she knows that I had an extremely amicable meeting with representatives of organic producers, which very thoroughly written up in this bulletin. From that, she will learn that my hon. Friend the Minister of State will be meeting them again soon to discuss marketing arrangements—a matter with which they feel that they need help.

As for helping organic farmers who are already in business, it was my view that it was better to use our resources to encourage more people to convert to organic farming if we were serious about increasing the number of people who farm in that way.

Sir. Ralph Howell

Does my right hon. Friend agree that if everyone in agriculture opted for organic farming the country would either starve or have to import vast quantities of food over and above what it imports today? Is she still of the opinion that we have been successful in reducing our cereal crop by 11 per cent., or 2 million tonnes, when the whole of the European Union has reduced its harvest by only 2.6 per cent? Is she aware that more than half of our partners actually increased their production this year? Is she still satisfied that that is the way forward?

Mrs. Shephard

My hon. Friend is right to point out that organic farming is one way of reducing production. I do not want to sound ageist in any way, but some of us remember that before the war everyone was an organic farmer.

As for set aside, which was the point of the second half of my hon. Friend's question, we should in the first year consider the intention of set aside, which involves the amount planted. My hon. Friend has an eye for these matters so I know that he will have noted a 7 per cent. reduction in cereal planting in the EC as a whole. There has been an increase in production in some cases because of the base year that was taken and the fact that some countries in the EC, such as Denmark, had a bad year because of drought the previous year. We need to consider the figures over a period of time. I agree with my hon. Friend that they will need watching.

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