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6.5 pm
Mr. Hilton Dawson (Lancaster and Wyre): It is a pleasure to take part in the debate and I shall stick to five minutes to allow other hon. Members to contribute. It has been an excellent debate, and the scene for it was set by the typical calm, dignity and good sense of my right hon. Friend the Minister in his introduction. Hon. Members on both sides have addressed themselves seriously to this very serious issue. The only exception was the hon. Member for South Suffolk (Mr. Yeo) who, with his arguments shot away and the scientific and legal basis for what he was trying to say foundering, sailed on towards the French to try to start a trade war. He is a farcical Lord Nelson for our time.
We can quote all the statistics we like, but I know that agriculture is in a serious state because I have seen the effects on people in the past couple of years. We have a fine farming community in Lancaster and Wyre, full of decent people, many of whom have been marked by desperation and despair. I think of a chap whose family has owned his farm for 200 years, but now sees it all going and thinks it is all his fault. I know a farmer who has had to spend his retirement savings on propping up the business. Now he is growing older and more tired, but he can see no way out of unremitting physical toil. Some families want to ensure a future for their children in agriculture, but that possibility is disappearing. Such people have been driven into despair because their income is being driven down.
Of course farmers have to produce safe, good quality food efficiently in a competitive environment. We also have the problems caused by the collapse of markets, the strength of the pound and the legacy of BSE. Even in a context of considerable assistance to agriculture, the supermarkets and dairy companies seem to be able to dictate the price that they will pay, without passing on lower prices to the consumer. Our efforts to produce quality food to high standards of animal welfare are undermined if we do not use every legitimate and scientific means to ensure that poorer quality imports do not hit the streets; if consumers do not have the benefit of accurate labelling; and if large concerns constantly have to be cajoled and persuaded to emphasise quality, freshness and animal welfare over the lowest common denominator of price. We have talked much about what the farmers and Government need to do, but less about what the supermarkets and dairy companies need to do to emphasise the quality of British produce to consumers.
We have to consider ways to develop effective co-operatives and marketing strategies. I was pleased to hear about the countrywide approach to marketing that is being further developed, but we need to emphasise regional and local distinctiveness. I want to see a made in Lancashire label attached to all sorts of quality produce, not just traditional agricultural produce. Our local farmers market, for example, has ostrich--produced by local people--on the menu, as well as selling the finest pork burgers available. We need to build on such innovation.
The Government are giving tremendous support to agriculture. My right hon. Friend the Minister listens, cares and approaches the issue properly, but we need to do more. We need to look to the future. If we are going to have to have bigger farms, we should have a retirement scheme so that people can leave the industry with dignity. We need greater emphasis on co-operatives and collaboration. No more obstacles should be placed in the
way of Milk Marque and other producer organisations, and an enabling and supportive culture should be fostered in the Ministry.
Mr. John Burnett (Torridge and West Devon):
I apologise for my brief absence from the debate, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I have been able to establish that, contrary to what I understood previously, a United Kingdom company was the source of French chicken burgers, worth about £40,000, that were used in Devon's schools. I apologise for my earlier intervention being therefore incorrect.
However, I must add that every year Devon county council buys food worth about £1.8 million that is produced by west country suppliers. It will be of interest to hon. Members and their local authorities that Devon county council has taken a number of constructive measures to assist agriculture. First, it has established, and is financing and supporting, the organisation Devon Food, by means of which local farmers are linked with local consumers, to whom they sell their produce. As a result, 13 new businesses and 35 new jobs have been created.
Secondly, the county council has set up and is supporting the "Made in Devon" scheme to promote local producers. Thirdly, the council has invited the National Farmers Union to join it in scrutinising Devon's purchasing agreements, and in examining ways in which quality and welfare conditions can be incorporated to ensure that our farmers operate on fair terms with their European counterparts.
The Parliamentary Secretary will be aware of the parlous state of agriculture. Last year, I thought that things could not get worse but, to my regret, they have. Time is short for many farmers throughout the country--they are either insolvent now, or on the brink of insolvency. Earlier, I asked the Minister about the timing of the proceedings that the European Union is likely to take after today's meeting. I hope that the Parliamentary Secretary when he winds up will answer the following urgent questions.
Mr. Gareth Thomas (Clwyd, West):
I am pleased to contribute to a debate on a subject of crucial importance to my constituents. The hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien) spoke earlier, and I congratulate him on an interesting and well delivered maiden speech. His constituency on the Cheshire plain is close to mine, but hon. Members will know that the land rises the further west one goes towards the Clwydian range. My constituency is therefore in what is regarded as a less favoured upland area, where the only sustainable form of
The Welsh language is particularly strong in rural Wales, which may account for the emotional charge about this issue in Wales, although that is also true of other parts of the UK. One acknowledges the strong attachment to the landscape in places in England and Scotland where farms may have been in the same hands for many generations or centuries. One pays tribute to the wonderful English landscape. The issue is charged emotionally as well as economically, but we must adopt a rational, clear headed approach to the combination of difficult problems that the Government have inherited.
I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for keeping his head and adopting a rational approach to the crisis. I congratulate the Government, too, on the steps that they have taken to ameliorate the situation. We must not forget that £5 billion a year is being paid directly to UK farmers under the common agricultural policy. The Government have made extra payments of £742 million, including higher hill livestock compensatory allowances and aid with meeting the costs of inspection and the extra charges resulting from BSE.
In the extremely limited time available to me, I want to concentrate on a few points. I warmly welcome the Government's embarkation on an industry-led review of the regulatory burdens on agriculture. That is a particular source of grievance among farmers in my constituency. One source of particular frustration is controls on sheep carcases, which have to be split so that specified risk material can be removed. If the Government could move on that point, it would go a long way towards improving morale.
I stress the importance of the EU's rural development regulation. Many people in agriculture believe that it has tremendous potential to improve the long-term prospects of agriculture and the rural economy. One thinks of agri-environmental schemes, steps towards proper early retirement schemes, aid for young farmers, marketing and processing grants. Unfortunately, the regulation is not properly funded in the UK. Of the available EU budget, only 3.5 per cent. has been allocated to the UK. I agree with what many commentators--including the Country Landowners Association and the Council for the Protection of Rural England--that that is ludicrously low.
I should like the Minister to address two questions: what representations have the Government made to increase that figure to somewhere near the EU average, and if that is not possible, can he suggest how resources might be shifted from market support subsidies to the rural development regulation? Under EU regulations, particularly the Amsterdam treaty, that is possible up to a ceiling of 20 per cent., and I should like to hear the Government's views on that point.
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