§ 2.36 p.m.
THE DUKE OF ATHOLLMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the approximate amount of money given to farmers mainly concerned with dairying under the Agriculture (Small Farmers) Act, 1959, and what percentage of the total given under that Act this represents.]
THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD (EARL WALDEGRAVE)My Lords, I regret that separate figures for payments to dairy farmers under the Small Farmer Scheme are not readily available for the United Kingdom as a whole. But in England and Wales, according to our estimates, approximately £2¾ million have been paid out under the Scheme to farmers whose main enterprise is dairying. This represents some 60 per cent. of total expenditure to date. Over 22,000 farm business plans have been approved, attracting nearly £15½ million of grant, but, as these schemes take between three and five years to complete, only a proportion of this grant has been earned so far. Sixty per cent. of total grants approved would work out at something over £9¼ million.
My Lords, these are figures for England and Wales. Over the United Kingdom as a whole, the total of grants approved on nearly 33,000 plans is 520 about £23 million, of which some £5¾ million has been paid out.
THE DUKE OF ATHOLLMy Lords, I should like to thank my noble friend very much for the great detail into which he has gone in giving me that Answer, and, at the same time, ask him one or two supplementary questions. First, I wonder whether Her Majesty's Government are satisfied that this money is making the farms truly economic. Secondly, are they satisfied that 60 per cent. of this scheme should be going mainly towards the production of more milk—which, according to the latest White Paper, is already being over-produced? Thirdly, do they not think that it might have been better not to have reduced the M.A.P. grants from their 1959 levels in order to pay for this scheme? Lastly, is it the Government's policy to stop the natural amalgamation of small farms by continuing this scheme indefinitely?
EARL WALDEGRAVEMy Lords, if I can remember those questions, the Small Farmer Scheme plans have to be approved by our advisory staff, and I think it is true to say that they would not approve a plan which was not truly economic. That is the answer to the first question. The second question was: Is this Small Farmer Scheme, with its emphasis on milk, incompatible with the Government's policy in regard to milk in general? My Lords, we have for many years, of course, been discouraging any general expansion of milk production but we recognise that each individual farmer must do what pays him best, and we accept that with many of these small farms this means an increase in mill; production. What we aim to do is to reduce high-cost milk production, but it does not follow that small farmers are high-cost farmers. There must always be room for expansion by efficient small farmers, even when total production is declining.
The third question was about the M.A.P. grants. I forget exactly in what terms the question was put, but we cannot earmark economies on those grants for the Small Farmer Scheme. Fourthly, the Government are not in favour of stopping the natural amalgamation of small farms where that seems the right and proper thing to do.