Orders of the Day — Agriculture and Prices

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 14 March 1974.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mr James Prior Mr James Prior , Lowestoft 12:00, 14 March 1974

It is no good the right hon. Gentleman shaking his head. He should do his homework and then he might know better.

I turn now to the prospects and problems of agriculture. In the six years of Labour Government commodity prices rose by 6 per cent. In our period of office they rose by 80 per cent. What this means in terms of agricultural production is that in the six years of Labour Government the average increase in production in Britain was 1 per cent. per year. In the three and a half to four years since 1970 the average increase in production has been nearly 4 per cent. So we have at least got the agricultural industry moving forward again. If all that the right hon. Member for Workington is able to do in the short period of office that he will have is to raise agricultural production at the rate of 1 per cent. a year, we shall be in an even bigger muddle over our food supplies in years to come than we are now.

The truth of the matter is that the ability of the world to reproduce population is now much greater than the ability of the world to grow extra food to feed itself. That is true not only of food but of a large number of raw materials as well.

As other countries grow richer they can afford to pay prices for food and other raw materials that we can no longer afford to pay, or can afford to pay only with great difficulty. When food and raw materials are short it is those countries that have the most money that can afford to buy them. Either we have to pay the price or we go without. Up to a few years ago we could always afford to pay a higher price than anyone else. That is true no longer.

I believe that it is vital that we should give top priority to agriculture. We should give agriculture top priority because, first, the energy crisis that we have just experienced with all its dramatic consequences on the British economy could be nothing compared with the food crisis that we might have to face later in this decade. If we do not produce more food at home we may find ourselves in a very serious position. In addition to that, the problem of import saving has not, I submit, been given sufficient thought and consideration in Whitehall.

It is far more important for Britain now, as the Conservative Government did, to give agriculture the priority and help that it deserves——