32.
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food why he told a member of the National Farmers' Union that 60,000 acres of fruit trees will have to be dug up to reduce the growing of some 200,000 tons of fruit produce; whether he is aware that this will adversely affect some 3,000 British growers and 60,000 full-time and casual workers; whether this proposal is to facilitate Great Britain's entry into the European Economic Community; and under what statutory authority he is giving this advice.
I have made no statement to this effect. In the course of an informal conversation with the National Farmers' Union I mentioned an unofficial estimate of the acreage of apples and pears that might possibly go out of production if British growers had to face immediate unrestricted competition from E.E.C. countries.