§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make it his policy to ensure that any compensation paid to individual farmers for restrictions imposed on the use of nitrogenous chemical fertilisers is financed by a levy on the sale of those fertilisers.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what is his estimate of the tonnage of nitrogenous fertilisers used in United Kingdom agriculture in each year since 1959;
1151W(2) whether Her Majesty's Government have any plans to impose a tax on the nitrogenous content of bulk fertilisers of £200 per tonne of the nitrate content; and if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the tonnage of nitrate consumed on British farms in each of the past 20 years.
§ Mr. CurryThe Government have no such plans. Figures on total nitrogen consumption on British farms are not available in the form requested. Information on applications of inorganic fertilisers containing nitrogen is published annually on a hectarage basis in the survey of fertiliser practice. In addition, nitrogen is also present in variable quantities in farmyard manure and sewage sludge. Total amounts involved are not available on a national basis, but are estimated to be about one fifth of total nitrogen application.