Vol. 381 No. 5
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if growers who purchased and planted strawberry runners, which had been certified under the certification scheme operated by his Department to be free from any disease or defect and were subsequently found to contain diseases and defects which made them unsuitable for fruit production, are entitled to compensation from his Department for losses sustained as a result of having used such plants.
69.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food (a) if growers who purchase strawberry runners certified under Department regulations as being free from disease or defect can be assured that this is indeed the case and (b) the guarantees which strawberry runners certified under the scheme carry in relation to disease of any kind.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 68 and 69 together. Strawberry plants are grown under conditions designed to ensure that, as far as is practicable, stocks certified under my Department's Certification Scheme are healthy. Absolute guarantees of freedom from harmful organisms obviously cannot be, and are not, given. Furthermore, for example, the disorder June Yellows is latent in the variety Cambridge Favourite and plants exhibiting symptoms of it are not certified under the scheme. The position is, as in other countries, that a guarantee that the disorder will not show up in apparently healthy stocks at some future date cannot be given. In the circumstances, the question of compensation does not arise.
