HC Deb 02 February 1988 vol 126 cc571-3W
Mr. Goodlad

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many dairy farmers in each county in England and Wales produce milk up to the quota; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Donald Thompson

[pursuant to his answer, 25 January 1988, c. 52]: In the 1986–87 quota year, the number of dairy farmers in each county of England and Wales who delivered more milk than their wholesale quota are set out in the following table. The position given is before any interchange between wholesale and direct sale quota and is not therefore final. These data are held by the Milk Marketing Board on the basis of names and boundaries that applied in 1933; they do not therefore reflect existing county boundaries.

County Number of producers over quota in 1986–87 As a percentage of total producers in county
Cumberland 716 49
Durham 185 48
Northumberland 104 54
Westmorland 367 55
Yorkshire, East Riding 141 51
Yorkshire, North Riding 670 55

County Number of producers over quota in 1986–87 As a percentage of total producers in county
Cheshire 1,084 60
Lancashire 1,070 53
Yorkshire, West Riding 1,016 57
Derbyshire 717 61
Staffordshire 980 60
Lincolnshire 172 69
Cambridgeshire and Ely 17 63
Huntingdon and Peterborough 13 62
Suffolk 122 65
Norfolk 177 62
Bedfordshire 30 58
Leicestershire and Rutland 363 63
Northamptonshire 127 66
Nottinghamshire 131 65
Warwickshire 268 65
Gloucestershire 533 59
Herefordshire 236 59
Monmouth 241 61
Worcestershire 210 60
Shropshire 819 60
Anglesey 79 33
Caernarvon 83 35
Denbigh 355 56
Flint 279 61
Merioneth 21 25
Montgomery 254 58
Brecon 35 43
Cardigan 411 49
Carmarthen 806 46
Glamorgan 158 48
Pembroke 527 48
Radnor 9 50
Berkshire 101 55
Buckinghamshire 144 58
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 259 51
Oxfordshire 131 62
Dorset 570 56
Somerset 1,297 58
Wiltshire 592 64
Devon 1,559 49
Cornwall 918 49
Essex 71 54
Hertfordshire 55 52
Kent 130 53
Greater London 8 42

County Number of producers over quota in 1986–87 As a percentage of total producers in county
Surrey 96 58
East Sussex 184 55
West Sussex 138 57

In England and Wales, supplementary levy liability arises on the net excess of deliveries over quota for the Milk Marketing Board as a whole. This system contributes to meeting the needs of the industry by providing the flexibility for some producers to exceed their quotas, and for this over-production to be offset by the extent to which other producers fall short of their quotas. In 1986–87, when the net excess of production over quota in England and Wales was less than 1 per cent., about 54 per cent. of producers were over quota and about 45 per cent. under quota.