§ 32. Mr. Willeyasked the Minister of Agriculture what factors caused the fall in tillage area of 469,000 acres in the United Kingdom in the last year.
Mr. AmoryThe tillage area depends on the decisions of individual farmers. In England and Wales, the heaviest fall was in the west where many farmers considered that, since feedingstuffs had become cheaper, the right course was to devote more of their resources to grassland farming and less to cereal growing. In addition, unfavourable ploughing conditions in February and the early part of March undoubtedly had a substantial effect on the crop acreage last year.