§ Lord Donaldson of Kingsbridgeasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many agricultural workers produce how much produce (in sterling equivalent) from how many acres with how much subsidy in sterling equivalent per acre in (a) the USA; (b) Germany; (c) France; and (d) the United Kingdom.
The Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Earl Howe)Available information is given in the table below. Estimates of subsidies are, however, difficult to make and depend critically on the assumptions used. The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has estimated transfers from taxpayers and consumers resulting from agricultural policies in the USA and European Community. Separate figures for individual member states are not available. As the OECD makes clear, these estimates do not take into account the impact on world prices, and on other variables, if farm support were to be removed. They are likely therefore to overstate the true extent of support to the agricultural sector.