§ 25. Mr. Tom Coxasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on progress towards developing procedures to be followed by farmers who burn straw stubble during the coming year.
§ Mrs. FennerMy right hon. Friend announced on 20 March the issue of revised model byelaws for straw and stubble burning. I understand from the Home Office that the uptake of these model byelaws by the local authorities in England and Wales has been encouraging. The National Farmers Union has revised its code of practice on straw and stubble burning to comply with these new byelaws and this will be published shortly and distributed to all cereal growers. The Agricultural Training Board has just announced its new training video to help farmers and their employees to carry out straw burning safely. These organisations and this Ministry will be taking every opportunity both before and during the coming harvest to bring the details of the byelaws and the NFU code to the attention of the farming community.