§ Mr. Michael Brownasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proposals his Department has to deal with the threat to wheat crops from bulb fly maggots, following the difficulties in the Yorkshire and Humberside area last year.
§ Mr. WigginRoutine monitoring has shown that this autumn wheat bulb fly egg counts were again high, especially in East Yorkshire. Local officers of my Department's agricultural development and advisory service were alerted and advice made available to farmers on seed treatments and other precautions to be taken at the drilling stage. There will be an egg hatch count early in the New Year and the position will continue to be monitored generally so that advice to farmers is up to date, in order to ensure that appropriate precautions may be taken.