Decontrol of cereals and feedingstuffs : presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Minister of Food, by command of Her Majesty, January 1953.
- Home Office
- Date:
- 1953
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Decontrol of cereals and feedingstuffs : presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Minister of Food, by command of Her Majesty, January 1953. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![DECONTROL OF CEREALS AND FEEDINGSTUFFS 1. As announced in Parliament on 3rd December, 1952, the Government have been consulting the representatives of farmers and the many trades concerned on the possibility of removing the present controls on the prices and supplies of all cereals and feedingstuffs, and returning imports to private trade. Apart from the economy and increased efficiency in various direc- tions which should follow, an important reason for this step is that the present feedingstuffs’ rationing scheme is unsatisfactory in several respects. In these consultations particular attention has been paid to the need for maintaining stable conditions in agriculture, and the effect which the removal of cereals control might have on the price of bread. The Government have now decided, in the light of the consultations, that these controls should be brought to an end at the next harvest. 2. The removal of controls on cereals and the resumption of private imports by the trade will involve the removal of the existing subsidy on fiour and also the removal of the restrictions on the type of flour which may be pro- duced. But a National flour of 80 per cent. extraction will continue to be produced and the subsidy on bread made from this flour will be continued and modified to take account of the disappearance of the flour subsidy. The subsidised National loaf will also remain subject to price control. Bread made from whiter flour of lower extraction will not be subsidised, nor will _it be subject to price control. / This whiter flour will, however, be fortified by the addition of nutrients equivalent to those lost in the further refining which it undergoes (so far as these can at present be identified) as well as the calcium which is already added to the National flour; and this will ensure that freedom to produce whatever flour the public prefers will not result in any avoidable lowering of nutritional standards. ,~ 3. Later there will have to be some adjustments in the method of imple- menting Part I of the Agriculture Act, 1947, for the four cereal crops. After decontrol there will no longer be maximum prices for cereals. For the 1953 harvest the Ministry of Food will remain ready to buy any supplies offered under existing arrangements. Further, these arrangements wil] con- tinue until the new permanent arrangements for implementing the price and market guarantees under the Agriculture Act, 1947 can be settled, after full and mature consultation with all the interests concerned, and brought into operation. It would clearly be appropriate, however, to establish as soon as possible the permanent methods of implementing the Act in the new conditions. Preliminary discussion on this problem has already started with representatives of the Farmers’ Unions and will be continued with a view to establishing as soon as is reasonably practicable the most effective arrangements. 4. In the White Paper of last May on the Annual Review and Fixing of Farm Prices, the Government stated that the subsidy on feedingstuffs could not be continued indefinitely but would be kept on for a further year. The decision now taken to remove controls makes it impossible to continue any remaining subsidy required to hold prices at present levels and the Govern- ment have decided that this subsidy should be withdrawn on Ist April next. The effect on farm costs will be one of the factors taken into consideration at the forthcoming Annual Review. 5. It will be necessary to maintain control over the import of cereals from outside the sterling area in order to safeguard the balance of payments. The Government’s intention is to administer such control in a manner which gives importers the greatest possible freedom consistent with our balance 3](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32183999_0003.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
