Mr. FOOT MITCHELLasked the Minister of Agriculture if it is the view of his Department, as stated in official literature, that if a drop of 20s. per ton of beet is indicated when the sugar 696W subsidy ceases the farmer will then have to rely for his profit on the indirect advantages which the crop secures for him; and whether this point is made clear to those agriculturists embarking on sugar-beet growing?
Mr. GUINNESSAs stated in my reply on 15th February to my hon. Friend the Member for Sudbury (Colonel Burton) the responsibility for statements made and opinions expressed in the Research Monograph No. 3 of the Agricultural Economics Research Institute of the University of Oxford based as it was on limited data from 34 farms in 1924 rests with the authors and not with the Ministry. The Ministry would not, on present experience and information feel justified in expressing any view on this point.