§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total acreage of land in the United Kingdom currently in set-aside; and what has been the total cost to public funds of payments to farmers for land in set-aside during 1996. [19486]
§ Mr. BaldryThe total acreage of land currently in set-aside will not be known until later this year In 1996 the total acreage of land in the United Kingdom set aside under the arable area payments scheme was 1,209,915 acres and payments to claimants in respect of that set-aside totalled £156,627,421 up to the end of February 1997.