HC Deb 05 July 1926 vol 197 cc1630-1W
Mr. T. WILLIAMS

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether, having regard to the Government's view that arable cultivation should be developed in conjunction with stock raising, he can show from experiments which are now proceeding that arable stock farming can be a paying proposition in this country?

Mr. GUINNESS

The Ministry has itself undertaken no experiments to test whether it is profitable to devote arable land to the raising of stock, although the Oxford Institute of Agricultural Economics has recently started conducting experiments and obtaining cost accounts bearing on this subject. If the hon. Member refers to arable dairy farming, I may explain that some experiments oil small farms were initiated some years ago and are still in progress, mostly now under the control of the Oxford Institute. So far as these experiments have hitherto gone they have not shown that arable dairy farming can be made profitable where, as in their case, all labour employed has to be paid at current rates.