Mr. Baldwin:

asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he is aware that more sugar beet was grown in 1946 than the present sugar-beet factories could process; and, as it is uneconomical to give cropping instructions for the 1947 crop in excess of what can be processed by the end of December, if he will instruct his A.E.Cs. accordingly.

The acreage of sugar beet grown in England and Wales in 1946 exceeded the total target acreage for the country, and a record yield per acre was obtained. Despite this, and the bad harvesting weather, by far the greater part of the record sugar beet crop will have been processed before the campaign is concluded. I see no reason to vary the existing instructions to county war agricultural executive committees to do their best to ensure that the 1947 target acreage of 394,000 acres is attained. This is over 9,000 acres less than the target for 1946, and over 15,000 acres less than the area actually grown in 1946.