PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Agriculture: Finance (22 September 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending support grants for the (a) dairy industry and (b) agricultural sector as the covid-19 outbreak continues.

Asked by:
Mr Richard Holden (Conservative)

To support dairy farmers who have been significantly impacted by covid-19, Defra ran a Dairy Response Fund which closed for applications on 11 September. This has provided financial support to those eligible dairy farmers who suffered a reduction in the average price paid for their milk of 25% or more in April 2020, compared with February 2020. More detail can be found at the link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dairy-response-fund-2020

The passing of the spring production peak, combined with measures taken by the government on competition easements and promotion campaigns, alongside the partial re-opening of hospitality has seen the dairy market recover and commodity prices have largely recovered to their pre-covid-19 levels.

We will continue to work very closely with all agricultural industry stakeholders and the Devolved Administrations to assess and monitor UK agricultural markets including price, supply, and trade information. This will enable us to identify, and respond as appropriate to the impacts of the covid-19 outbreak across all of our agricultural sectors.

Answered by:
Victoria Prentis (Conservative)
29 September 2020