§ Mr. Baldwinasked the Minister of Agriculture if he will reconcile the figure of 1,040,000 acres of pasture, which qualified for a ploughing subsidy under the first scheme, with the 4th June returns 1952, which shows an increase for the year of 49,000 acres of arable land whilst the decrease of temporary pasture is given as 65,000 acres only and the decrease of permanent grass as 50,000 only; and publish the figure of net increase of arable land for the year 1951–52.
§ Sir T. DugdaleThe table below gives for each country the latest estimated area of land under grass that qualified for the first scheme of ploughing grants:
('000 acres) England and Wales … 610 Scotland … 288 Northern Ireland … 150 Total (U.K.) … 1,048 The whole of this acreage, except for an insignificant area re-seeded, was sown to approved grain and fodder crops.
The net increase in 1952 in arable in the United Kingdom is provisionally put at 79,000 acreas, but the increase in crops is as much as 234,000 acres. I cannot say how much of the 814,000 acres, representing the difference between the acres 146W earning grant and the increase in crops, would have been ploughed and sown without the grant nor how much would have gone out of cultivation.