HC Deb 29 January 1990 vol 166 cc76-7W
Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish details of the new non-price support measures proposed by the Commission which he questioned at the Council of Ministers' meetings on 22 and 23 January.

Mr. Curry

The principal non-price elements proposed by the Commission as part of its price proposals areAn aid for small arable producers, defined as producers with not more than 20 hectares of land who derive the main part of their income from cereals, oilseeds and pulses; An aid to encourage the production of millet, canary seed and buckwheat ; The extension of suckler cow premium to suckler cows owned by small milk producers, who are defined as producers with a quota of not more than 60,000 kg a year; The introduction of a Community financed scheme for the purchase of milk quota from producers undertaking to cease milk production altogether. The quota obtained would be reallocated by the member state concerned to producers in less favoured and mountainous areas, to bring their quotas up to no more than 60,000 or 100,000 kg a year respectively; An increase of 4 ecu in the rate of annual ewe premium in less-favoured areas.