Importance of farming to economy

Speaking to the Scottish National Farmers' Union at Ingliston, Edinburgh, last night the Prime Minister thanked farmers for the contribution they make to the UK's balance of payments.

The Government was very aware of the importance of farming and related industries to the economy, Mrs Thatcher said. She herself took a personal interest, having come from farming stock.

The prosperity of farming was, she said, very important to the strength and stability of the rural community.

While aware of dissatisfaction at the EC policy of imposing quotas on production, it had been essential to reduce the surpluses produced under the common agricultural policy.

This was well on the way to being achieved with the butter mountain reduced from 1.5 million tonnes to 50,000, surplus milk powder almost gone and cereals surpluses reduced by a third.

With regard to the sheepmeat negotiations last July, the deal achieved was better than had been expected considering the opposition from other member countries.

It had originally been thought that a limit on numbers would be imposed with no payment above this number, but in fact, numbers in excess of 1000 on the upland areas were to receive 50%; of the payment with no upper limit on numbers.

Turning to environmental issues, Mrs Thatcher said that uninformed political debate suggested that environmentalists and farmers were at odds, but in fact the landscape we know today was created by the farming community and farmers were as concerned as anyone to conserve both landscape and wildlife.

Mr Ian Grant, SNFU president, agreed that farmers were interested and concerned about the landscape and countryside of Scotland.

“We welcome the steps already taken by Government to introduce schemes for environmentally sensitive areas, farm woodland, diversification, extensification—policies intended to enable farmers to respond to the new demands being made on the countryside.

“We think these policies could usefully be taken further in practice, and you will find us willing and constructive contributors to the development of environmental policy,” he said.

He wished, though, to make one plea. In May he said the Prime Minister had written to him declaring the Government's strong opposition to arbitrary headage limits which discriminate against producers in this country.

While he agreed that significant improvements on the commission's original proposals concerning sheepmeat had been achieved in July the fact remained that the headage principle was still firmly embedded in the new arrangements, and no part of the EC was worse hit by that than Scotland.

“I beseech you,” he concluded, “not to tolerate any similar development when like commission proposals for the hill livestock compensatory allowances come to be debated in the Council of Ministers, probably later this month.

“We must not find ourselves operating from a large new crater in the middle of the so-called level playing field. The whole of the industry I represent would find that an appalling prospect.”