| Previous Section | Home Page |
Column 421
after croppingRaspberry
Narcissus bulbs
Forestry (cut logs)
Winter wheat
pre-emergence or
post-emergence
Barley
Oats
Spring wheat
Grass
Maize
Sweetcorn
Pea
Oilseed rape or
Oilseed rape at drilling
Broccoli or
Broccoli at drilling or transplanting
Cabbage or
Cabbage at drilling or transplanting
Cauliflower or
Cauliflower at drilling or transplanting
Brussels sprout or
Brussels sprout at drilling or transplanting
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of cases of BSE in cows born after the ban on the inclusion of ruminant protein in cattle rations.
Sheep (Import Bans)
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list those countries presently operating an import ban on sheep from the United Kingdom.
Mr. Curry : The information requested is as follows :
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Malaysia
New Zealand
Sweden
Tunisia
Turkey
United States of America
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Farmed Salmon
Sir Hector Monro : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action the Government are taking to remedy the disturbance of the salmon market and to protect the farmed salmon industry from unfair competition.
Mr. Curry : The EC Commission adopted on Friday 8 November a regulation which introduces a scale of minimum import prices for imports into the European Community of fresh, chilled or frozen Atlantic salmon. The regulation came into force on 9 November, and will run until 29 February 1992.
Column 422
I very much welcome this positive response by the Commission to the strenuous representations we have been making to secure a floor in the market, as protection against the threat of price collapse caused by unfair competition from Norwegian imports. Our producers have been left to struggle for too long, while huge stocks of frozen salmon have built up in Norway and consignments have been offered for sale at prices which have undermined the market. This has posed a severe threat to United Kingdom salmon farmers and to the economy of the rural areas where they operate.I hope the measures that have now been introduced will restore stability to the market during the important pre-Christmas period.
Tecnazene
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will bring forward proposals to restrict the use of the fungicide Tecnazene.
Mr. Maclean : Tecnazene is under review by the independent Advisory Committee on Pesticides. Ministers in the six Departments responsible for pesticides will decide jointly on any appropriate regulatory action on the basis of expert advice from the ACP.
Milk Marketing Boards
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the monopoly powers of the milk marketing boards ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Curry : Under Community law the United Kingdom is authorised to grant the milk marketing boards the exclusive right to buy from producers in their area the milk which they produce and market without processing, provided it satisfies certain minimum requirements. This right is coupled with an obligation on the boards to purchase the milk in question.
Farm Assistance
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his estimate of the proportion of the support provided by consumers/taxpayers directly and indirectly to farmers and horticulturalists which goes to the 1,000 largest owners of agricultural land, excluding woodland and rough grazing.
Mr. Curry : I refer the hon. Member to the reply which my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Stamford and Spalding (Mr. Davies) on 6 November, ( Official Report, columns 165-66 ).
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give for England and Wales the amount of aid distributed to hill farmers under each category of assistance for each year from 1978-79.
Mr. Curry : This information can be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
Column 423
Wyandotte Birds
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the destruction of rare Wyandotte birds following a court case brought against their owner, Mr. Clem Shaw, by Shropshire trading standards department.
Mr. Maclean : I am not aware of any destruction of Wyandotte birds owned by Mr. Shaw ; nor has the Department issued any instructions for their slaughter.
Cattle
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will encourage a system of passports for finished cattle at auction ;
(2) what information he has of the present usage of the system of passports for finished cattle at auction.
Mr. Curry : I understand that a "passport" system for cattle is operated in a number of member states of the European Community. Proposals for a common system of livestock identification are expected to be put forward by
Column 424
the European Commission to the Council of Agriculture Ministers. I have no plans to introduce changes to the system of cattle identification in the United Kingdom in advance of agreement on those proposals.Rapeseed
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much rapeseed in the EC is used for animal feed ; what is the cost to EC funds of using this feed ; and if he will publish a table showing the total subsidies paid by the EC on ingredients to animal feed and the total value of feed produced.
Mr. Curry : In 1990-91, around 6 million tonnes of rapeseed were processed in the EC. The majority was crushed for oil and meal. Only the meal, which makes up around 60 per cent. of the seed by weight, is used in animal feeds. Some 290,000 tonnes of rapeseed were directly incorporated into animal feed. Expenditure on EC support subsidies for rapeseed in 1989, the latest year for which final figures are available, was 1,288 mecu-- £843 million.
The other information requested is not available.
|
| Home Page |