§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what saving to the European Economic Community budget is represented by the proposed 3.6 per cent. reduction in cereal prices; and what will be the additional cost to the budget of the German proposals for cereals.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe Commission estimates 151 mecu would be saved in the 1985–86 marketing year if its proposals on cereal prices were adopted. German counter proposals have not been defined in sufficient detail to enable them to be accurately costed.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the cost per tonne of growing wheat on a large wheat-growing owner-occupied farm in East Anglia in 1984 or 1983, excluding any notional rent for the land; and what part of the cost represents a charge for interest on capital.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe University of Cambridge has recently published its report on farming in the eastern counties of England 1983–84, to which the hon. Member may wish to refer.
455W
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the basis for the proposed increase in the cereals threshold from 21.5 million to 26 million tonnes.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe Commission's proposal is to add the durum wheat guarantee threshold (4.6 million tonnes) to that for other cereals (121.32 million tonnes) and form a single threshold target of 126 million tonnes for 1985–86.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether the original formula for reducing cereal prices in the event of a surplus was based on the previous year's price or that price increased by a notional margin.
§ Mr. MacGregorPrice reductions under the guarantee threshold arrangement are applied to the prices set for the marketing year following the three year period used as the basis of the calculation.