§ 39. Mr. Flanneryasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the average subsidy to each farmer to be paid during the present financial year; and what is the grand total of such subsidies.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerTotal public expenditure in the United Kingdom in 1980–81 under the common agricultural policy and on national grants and subsidies in support of agriculture is estimated at £978 million. There are 296,000 full and part-time farmers. Much of this expenditure is not paid directly to farmers and benefits interests other than agriculture, such as consumers, and it is therefore not possible to derive a meaningful average subsidy to each farmer from the above figures.