§ Mr. Biffenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimated sugar beet yield per acre is represented by the Common Market allocation of 900,000 tons of sugar to United Kingdom beet producers when related to the 1972 annual price review guarantee acreage of 443,000 acres; and how this national yield compares with the actual yields of the past five seasons.
§ Mr. GodberThe average sugar beet yield during the last five seasons has been as follows:
Season Long tons per acre 1968–69 15.75 1969–70 13.63 1970–71 14.31 1971–72 17.33 1972–73 13.78 Because production of sugar from a given acreage also depends on other variable factors, including particularly the sugar content of the beet, it is impossible to say what yield of beet per acre is implied by any particular quantity of production. However the United Kingdom's basic quota of 900,000 metric tons white sugar equivalent, which was negotiated in 1971 and embodied in the Treaty of Accession, represented more than the average annual production from 443,000 acres in the five seasons up to and including 1970–71.