§ Mr. Newensasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the extent of the modernisation of the glasshouse industry in recent years.
§ Mr. Hoy:The following information is derived from inquiries conducted by my Department in England and Wales in 1965, 1967 and 1969:
Age of glasshouses: Of 4,177 acres of glasshouses in March, 1969, 808 acres (19 per cent.) had been erected since August, 1966. This rate of building is nearly 50 per cent. more than that required for normal replacement, assuming that the average life of a glasshouse is 20 years. The 1967 inquiry showed 568 acres as having been erected between August, 1964 and March, 1967, and that in 1965, 349 acres erected between 1963 and March, 1965. The last figure is not strictly comparable with the other two, as holdings of an acre or less were not included in the inquiry.Heating: The total heated glasshouse area in 1969 (January census) was 3,057 acres. 7 per cent. greater than two years earlier and 9 per cent. greater than in January, 190 (2,802 acres). The use of automatic control of temperature increased over the four years from about 50 per cent. to 70 per cent. of the heated area. Heating by oil showed regular gains at the expense of solid fuel (chiefly hand stoked). In 1969 large bore pipes were being used for heat distribution on nearly 1,900 acres (62 per cent.), as compared with nearly 2.200 acres (76 per cent.) in 1967—much the same as in 1965.Watering methods: Hand-hose watering of borders declined from 48 per cent. of the total glasshouse area in 1965 to 30 per cent. in 1969. Automatic or semi-automatic systems predominated in 1969, the proportion having risen from 42 per cent. to 61 per cent.Ventilation: The glasshouse area with automatic ventilation more than doubled between 1967 and 1969 and increased sevenfold since 1965, when it represented only about 1½ per cent. of the total area.Carbon dioxide enrichment: The proportion of the glasshouse area equipped for CO, enrichment rose from 8 per cent. in 1965 to 12 per cent. in 1969.
§ Mr. Newensasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress has been made in the glasshouse industry towards the objectives put forward by the Economic Development Committee for Agriculture in " Agriculture's Import Saving Rôle".
§ Mr. Hoy:The Economic Development Committee suggested that by 1972–73 it should be possible to save some 15,000 tons of imported tomatoes, "and imports of winter lettuce correspondingly." 372W Between 1967 and 1969 the output of tomatoes in the United Kingdom increased by some 6,000 tons (7 per cent.) and that of winter lettuce by some 1,300 tons (about 10 per cent.).