§ Mr. Scott-Hopkinsasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what arrangements are being made in the United Kingdom for administering the payment of grants which are available under EEC regulations to farmers who decide to change from producing milk to keeping beef cattle and sheep.
§ Mr. Anthony StodartMy right hon. Friend has laid an order before Parliament which will come into operation on 517W 29th October 1973 under which Agriculture Departments in the United Kingdom will administer these EEC regulations through a Dairy Herd Conversion Scheme.
Under this scheme a farmer who had 11 or more dairy cows on 4th June 1973 will be eligible for a grant provided that he undertakes to give up selling and supplying milk and milk products for a period of four years and to change to keeping cattle for beef, or sheep, or both and to maintain his livestock numbers throughout the four-year period.
The amount of grant will be determined by the quantity of milk and milk products sold and supplied by the farmer in the year ended 31st May 1973. The grant will be payable in three instalments over the four-year period throughout which no sales of milk and milk products must take place. At the present Community exchange rate, every 100 gallons of milk sold in the year ended 31st May 1973 will earn a grant of £15.75. The United Kingdom may claim from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (FEOGA) half the amount of the grants made. The present intention of the European Economic Community is that these grants will only be available to farmers who apply by 31st December 1974 and so the regulations are expected to be reviewed in the autumn of next year.
A Supplementary Estimate will be presented to Parliament in due course, but in the meantime recourse will be made to the Contingencies Fund.