§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the Government's long-term policies regarding(a) sheep quotas and (b) suckler cow premiums.
§ Mr. JackIn the long term the Government would like to see agricultural production regulated by price and not by quotas and similar devices, which impose a bureaucratic burden on farmers and prevent or inhibit the rational development of production in response to relative efficiency. In line with this policy the Government have, as a first step, called for the sheep and suckler cow quotas to be replaced by regional reference quantities, with the rate of premium being scaled down proportionately to any excess above the reference levels. Any such change would, of course, require farmers to be given an adequate period of notice before it was introduced.