§ Mr. John Evansasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what acreage increase, in beet sugar planted, is planned in the United Kingdom for this year, and each of the next five years; and in which parts of the United Kingdom the increase will occur.
§ Mr. BishopAbout 510,000 acres of sugar beet were sown in 1976 compared to 480,000 acres in 1975. The White Paper "Food from our own resources" projected a production of some 1.3 million tonnes of sugar from about 600,000 acres of beet by the early 1980s.
The British Sugar Corporation expects to be able to obtain the necessary extra acreage from around its existing factories, some of which are being expanded and modernised. The progress of this expansion programme, which will affect the 299W acreages planned over the next few years, is a matter for the corporation.