§ Sir A. Bossomasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he is aware of the anxiety among farmers that his Department's consideration of farm 189W improvement schemes from specialised producers tends to weigh unfairly against small farmers who are in the greatest need of assistance; and if he will give an assurance that care will be taken to give each application equal consideration.
§ Mr. John HareEach proposal under the Farm Improvement Scheme has to satisfy all the tests prescribed in Section 12 of the Agriculture Act, 1957. Among other things, these tests require that the land which a proposed improvement is intended to benefit is, or after improvement will be, capable of yielding a sufficient livelihood to a reasonably skilled occupier, and also that a prudent landlord would be willing to make the improvement himself or to pay compensation to a tenant for making it. It is these requirements which proposals for small specialist holdings most commonly fail to meet. Each proposal receives careful consideration.