Now that farmers, the farming organisations and everybody else have had an opportunity to look at the package, we can only say the fodder scheme is a bit like a lucky bag — one never knows what will come out of it, but one can be sure it will be valueless. What is needed is a doubling of the sheep premium. That would cost £14 or £15 million, but hill sheep farmers will get very little of the £2.7 million. This is the first time ever that a Minister has been unable to say in respect of a package being put together how many or which farmers will benefit. Obviously there was huge Government panic to have something ready for the ploughing championship.
Am I to take it that this help, limited though it is, will be confined to farmers in the designated wetland areas, or will farmers everywhere who have suffered because of the weather on wet land, wherever they are, be able to apply? They have the same problem — wet land is wet land wherever it is. Where do the Government and the Department stand on this?