Britain: An official handbook > 1966

BRITAIN: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
of schemes submitted by the farmers and approved by the Agricultural
Departments and are limited per farm to £1,000 spread out over three years.
This scheme at present affects some 80,000 holdings. In August 1965 the
Government announced special measures to facilitate and speed up the
voluntary amalgamation of small farms which, because of their scale and
situation, could not expect to become financially viable.
One-third capital grants are made under the Agriculture (Miscellaneous
Provisions) Act 1963, towards expenditure incurred by landowners or
syndicates of farmers in erecting buildings to house machinery or grain
drying and storage facilities for use by farmers’ machinery syndicates (see
P- 337)-
Horticulture Horticultural produce, because it is perishable and liable to seasonal variation
in quantity and quality, does not lend itself to a system of guaranteed prices.
Hitherto the principal means of support has been tariffs on imports, but
greater emphasis is now being placed on the need to strengthen the com¬
petitive efficiency of the industry so as to reduce its dependence upon the
tariffs.
Farmers’
Machinery
Syndicates
OTHER
GOVERNMENT
ASSISTANCE AND
ACTION
Land Use
It is an integral part of the Government’s planning policy (which is adminis¬
tered in England and Wales by the Ministry of Housing and Local Govern¬
ment, and in Scotland by the Scottish Development Department) that the
better agricultural land should not be taken for other use if there is less
valuable land that would serve the purpose. The Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food assists in carrying out this policy in England and Wales by
providing expert advice to planning authorities and other departments on the
implications, from the standpoint of the public agricultural interest, of all
substantial proposals to take agricultural land for other purposes. Appropriate
arrangements exist for the Ministry to be consulted about such proposals. In
Scotland similar arrangements exist for the Department of Agriculture and
Fisheries to give advice.
Agricultural
Credit
The Government has never pursued a general policy of making credit
available to agriculture on easy terms. Nevertheless, a number of facilities
for specific purposes enjoy government encouragement and support.
In England and Wales finance for the purchase or improvement of agri¬
cultural property is available from the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation
Ltd. (see p. 415) and takes the form of a loan on the security of a first mortgage
on freehold agricultural land and buildings or of an improvement loan against
the security of a terminable rent charge created on the land improved. The
corporation’s funds are derived mainly from public issues of stock, but it
receives a measure of government support. In Scotland, loans for agricultural
purposes secured on agricultural land in Scotland are granted by the Scottish
Agricultural Securities Corporation Ltd.; this corporation also receives
support from the Government.
Improvement loans for carrying out improvements to agricultural land and
buildings are also available to landowners from the Lands Improvement
Company, whose funds are provided privately. The amount of such loans is
charged on the land and buildings in the form of a terminable rent charge.
Improvement loans require the sanction of the agricultural ministers.
In Northern Ireland loans are available to farmers from the Agricultural
Loans Fund, administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and financed out