§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, further to his reply dated 4 December 1981, Official Report, column 265, concerning the acreage and production of crops, whether he will give for each of the years in question (a) the normal yield of sugar beet per acre and (b) the actual sugar content of the United Kingdom harvest per tonne of beet.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithSugar beet yields vary from year to year and there is no generally accepted figure for normal yields. The average sugar content, not all of which can be extracted, of the beet produced in each of the years concerned was:
Year Per cent. 1948 16.33 1958 15.08 1968 15.31 1978 16.75 1980 16.96