§ Mr. Joplingasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the current outstanding borrowings from all sources of farmers; and if he will list them by type.
§ Mr. StrangI regret that information on the agriculture industry's current outstanding borrowings from all sources is not available. However, bank advances to agriculture and forestry, which form the main component of such borrowings, totalled £1,607 million for the United Kingdom at 17th May 1978.
The following table gives a broad indication of how farmers' borrowings were made up at mid-February 1977, based on farm account balance sheets collected from a subsample of farms as part of the Farm Management Survey in England and Wales:
LONG-AND MEDIUM-TERM LOANS per cent Agricultural Mortgage Corporation 19¼ Building Societies ¾ Other Institutions 1 Bank Loans 6½ Loans from Relatives 9½ Other 3¾ SHORT-TERM LOANS per cent Hire Purchase 1¼ Creditors 24½ Bank Overdrafts 33 Other ½ 100