§ Mr. McQuarrieasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he proposes to take to remedy the serious concern within the agriculture industry about the unsatisfactory prices being obtained for beef cattle.
§ Mr. Younger:The Government have already taken action to help beef producers. The target price of the beef premium scheme was increased by 4 per cent. in June, and premium payments under this system have provided considerable market support. Latterly this has been supplemented by the operation of intervention buying for various categories of beef.
In addition many producers will benefit from cash payments under the new beef Buckler cow subsidy. This combination of measures will continue to give substantial assistance to the beef sector.
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