§ 23. Jackie BallardTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the current incomes of hill farmers in the United Kingdom. [67819]
§ Mr. MorleyThe 1998 Autumn Review of Economic Conditions in the Hills and Uplands showed that, in the UK as a whole, net farm income on full-time cattle and sheep farms in the Less Favoured Areas was forecast to 769W fall by 67 per cent. in 1998/99. The statistical tables containing this, and other data, were laid before the House on 26 November 1998. This forecast did not include the payments to hill livestock farmers in the £120 million aid package announced by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on 16 November 1998, Official Report, columns 624–40.
On 28 January 1999, my Department published provisional estimates of UK farm incomes and output in 1998. These estimates, which include the extra payments under the aid package, forecast a fall of 38 per cent. in net farm incomes on cattle and sheep farms in the Less Favoured Areas in 1998–99.