§ Colonel Carverasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food what is the policy of his Department in relation to the growing and the consumption of rye?
Major Lloyd GeorgeIt has been agreed with my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries that the grain450W crops principally required are wheat, barley and oats. Farmers have, therefore, been advised that land suitable for growing cereals should be sown to those crops and in that order of preference. Rye should only be grown on the lighter and poorer soils, which are not suitable for the production of the main cereals. On such soils it is a useful crop. Apart from the need of ensuring that adequate supplies of seed are available for autumn sowing, it is not proposed to control the utilisation of rye from the 1941 crop.