HC Deb 21 May 1953 vol 515 cc159-61W
Mr. Donnelly

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state in as much detail as possible for each of the years 1945-46 to 1952-53 the total cost to the Treasury of grants to landowners and farmers towards the cost of permanent improvements to agricultural holdings, such as cottages, buildings, water supplies, land drainage, etc.; purchases from fanners of farm produce at figures above market prices; sales to farmers of farm requisites, such as fertilisers, feedingstuffs, etc., at figures below market prices; acreage grants to farmers for converting grassland into tillage, and from the growth of specified

TABLE 1
(£'000)
— 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 Estimated 1952–53
Hill Farm Improvements (including cottages and farm buildings) — — — 16 110 260 488 738
Water Supplies Grants 476 580 480 519 765 1,036 1,056 1,075
Land Drainage Grants 1,038 1,490 1,510 1,732 1,613 1,629 1,571 1,610
Sales at Reduced Prices
Fertilisers* 5,953 6,982 10,355 12,250 15,250 9,210 — —
Animal Feedingstuffs 13,800 18,000 31,200 70,200 33,600 3,500 24,500 30,000
Grants and Subsidies
General Fertilisers — — — — — — — 13,000
Grassland Fertilisers — — — — — 323 3,360 450
Lime 2,883 2,611 3,172 4,997 6,010 5,557 4,183 5,000
Ploughing Grassland 949 1,577 1,731 5,925 7,178 3,112 2 6,265
Crop Acreage Payments 23,168 17,880 17,155 18,544 15,840 11,898 18 2
Hill Sheep Subsidy 1,741 1,746 2,186 3,732 2,332 1,159 1,260 580
Hill Cattle Subsidy 1,256 1,406 1,066 1,448 1,560 1,501 1,516 1,516
Calf Rearing Subsidy — — — 3,637 7,210 6,243 4,944 4,167
Marginal Production and Bracken Clearing Grants 312 334 340 353 363 564 897 1,238
Grass Conservation — — — 67 74 54 98 10
* Subsidy for year to 30th June.

crops, such as potatoes, etc.; grants to farmers for the maintenance of hill sheep flocks, and for the rearing of calves; and payments to landowners and farmers for any other measures for the promotion of food production not covered by the foregoing, respectively.

Mr. R. A. Butler

Table I gives details of payments to the agricultural industry by way of grant or subsidy in each of the years 1945–46 to 1952–53. With the exception of the first three items in the table, the grants are paid only to occupiers. It is not possible, in the case of these items, to give separate figures for occupiers and landowners who are not occupiers. Table II gives figures, where available, of the subsidies on home-produced foodstuffs—that is, of the losses incurred by the Ministry of Food in buying from the producer at the guaranteed price and selling on to reach the consumer at the controlled retail price. For the years covered by the Question there has been no freedom of marketing, and therefore no U.K. market prices, for the products covered in the table. Figures are not always available for the earlier years; the system of accounting in those years did not in every case distinguish between the subsidy on home and that on imported supplies.

TABLE II
(£m.)
Commodity 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 (Estimate)
Bacon 5.6 4.8 6.4 8.7 22.1 29.6 33.2 24.2
Bread and Flour — — — — 18.9 21.2 17.7 12.1
Shell Eggs 13.6 16.0 20.6 22.0 30.0 30.3 25.0 20.0
Meat 24.6 28.6 41.7 48.0 30.5 22.8 42.7 35.6
Milk (including Welfare Schemes) 42.2 63.1 66.2 77.5 96.0 106.4 90.8 83.1
Butter — — — — 1.3 1.4 0.2 0.5
Cheese — — — — 2.9 4.0 4.3 1.0
Potatoes and Carrots* (Domestic and Stock-feed) 8.3 18.7 10.4 11.6 11.4 4.7 4.7 7.3
Sugar (Domestic) — — — — 3.3 3.7 3.3 2.7
Miscellaneous — — — — 2.3 2.5 0.1 —
TOTAL — — — — 218.7 226.6 222.0 186.5
* The Ministry ceased trading in carrots from 1st March, 1950.