Mr. Vaneasked the Minister of Agriculture what is the average price paid by farmers for wheat meal and dairy cake for poultry and cattle food, respectively, for each of the years since 1945.
Mr. T. WilliamsPrices paid by farmers for dairy cakes and wheatfeed (which I assume the hon. Member has in mind rather than wheat meal as such) vary from farm to farm according to the quantities purchased, the distances from store to farm, and, in the case of dairy cakes, the differing constituents of the cakes. Average prices, delivered to farms, since 1945 have been approximately as follows:
— Wheat feed Dairy cakes (per cwt.) (per cwt.) s. d. s. d. 1945 … … 10 6 15 0 1946 … … 10 9 15 6 1947 … … 10 6 15 6 1948 … … 11 3 16 0 1949 … … 14 3 20 9 1950 … … 19 0 27 0
Mr. Vaneasked the Minister of Agriculture how far the rise in the price of milk and eggs, respectively, since 1945 has allowed farmers to recoup themselves for the increased costs of feedingstuffs and other costs of production over the same period.
Mr. T. WilliamsI regret that information is not available to allow of a direct comparison, on a United Kingdom basis, of price and cost increases of individual products over a period of years. Higher labour costs and higher prices of requisites are to a considerable extent 99W offset by improvements in efficiency and by changes in seasonality of production. The trends in production since 1945 suggest that profit margins, especially for milk, have been satisfactorily maintained.