§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate she has made of(a) the present average yield of each of the principal farm crops and (b) the comparable yields if all farmers were to convert to organic farming. [12188]
§ Mr Paul Murphy(a) The average yields of each of the main farm crops in 1996 and for the previous five years are given in the table.
align="right">tonnes per hectare 1996 Average 1991 to 1995 Spring barley 5.03 4.26 Winter barley 6.64 5.78 Wheat 7.70 6.87 Oats 5.07 4.62 Potatoes (maincrop ware and seed) 29.93 27.23 (b) The organic sector in Northern Ireland is too small to provide reliable estimates of comparable yields.