Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1963

Increase of amounts available for improvement grants under Hill Farming Act 1946

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Extension of period for payments of subsidies in respect of hill sheep and cattle

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In section 13 of the Hill Farming Act 1946 which (as amended by the Livestock Rearing Act 1951 and the Hill Farming Act 1956) provides—

• (a) for the making of subsidy payments in respect of sheep comprised in flocks on any of the relevant days defined in subsection (2) of that section ; and

• (b) for the making, in respect of certain years, of subsidy payments in respect of cattle ;

for the words " the sixteen next succeeding years ", in both places where they occur, there shall be substituted the words " the twenty next succeeding years " and for the words from " in the nine next succeeding years " to the end of the section there shall be substituted the words " in the nine next succeeding years as may be so specified and such day of December in the last of those years and in the ten next succeeding years as may be so specified ".

Increase of amounts available for grants under Part II of Agriculture Act 1957

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In section 18 of the Agriculture Act 1957 (which limits the aggregate amount of the grants that may be made under Part II of that Act to fifty million pounds or such greater amount, not exceeding fifty-five million pounds, as may be determined by an order under that section) for the words from " fifty " to the end of the section there shall be substituted the words " ninety million pounds ".

Extension of Agriculture (Fertilisers) Act 1952

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A scheme under the Agriculture (Fertilisers) Act 1952 (which provides for the payment of contributions in respect of fertilisers) may be so made as to extend—

• (a) to fertilisers used by growers of mushrooms otherwise than on agricultural land ; or

• (b) to fertilisers applied to the crop instead of to the soil;

and the references in that Act to occupiers of agricultural land and to the use of fertilisers for adding to such land to improve the fertility of the soil shall be construed accordingly.

Registration of suppliers for purposes of Agriculture (Fertilisers) Act 1952 and penalty for false statements, etc.

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• (1) A scheme under the Agriculture (Fertilisers) Act 1952 may require, as a condition of the payment of contributions under that Act in respect of fertilisers acquired by occupiers of agricultural land in Great Britain or growers of mushrooms in Great Britain or acquired by any association for distribution to its members in Great Britain, that, subject to any exceptions allowed by the scheme, the fertilisers are acquired from a person registered by the Minister under this section.

• (2) Subject to the following provisions of this section, where any person carrying on or proposing to carry on a business of supplying fertilisers applies to the Minister for registration under this section, the Minister shall register him if his application—

• (a) is in such form and manner as the Minister may direct, and

• (b) is accompanied by an undertaking to give such information as may be required to verify applications for contributions in respect of fertilisers supplied by him and to produce to any person duly authorised by the Minister books and records required for that purpose and to permit such a person to take copies of or extracts from them.

• (3) The Minister may refuse or cancel the registration of a person under this section if within the twelve months immediately preceding his application for registration or, as the case may be, the notification under subsection (4) of this section of the proposed cancellation, he or any person employed by him or any person carrying on business in partnership with him has been convicted of an offence under this section or of any offence involving dishonesty in connection with a scheme under the Agriculture (Fertilisers) Act 1952; and may—

• (a) refuse to register any person on the ground that within the twelve months immediately preceding his application for registration his registration or that of any person with whom he carries on business in partnership has been cancelled under the preceding provisions of this subsection ; and

• (b) cancel the registration of any person on the ground that since his registration he or any person employed by him or carrying on business in partnership with him has failed to comply with such an undertaking as is mentioned in subsection (2) of this section ;

and where the registration of any person has been cancelled by reason of his or any other person's failure to give any information or to produce, or to permit the taking of copies or extracts from, any books or records, the Minister may refuse to register him unless the information is given, the books or records are produced, or the taking of copies or extracts is permitted, as the case may be.

• (4) Before refusing to register any person or cancelling the registration of any person under this section the Minister shall give him notice in writing stating the grounds on which he proposes to do so, and shall give him an opportunity of being heard by a person appointed by the Minister for that purpose and shall consider the report of that person.

• (5) Subsections (2) to (4) of this section shall have effect in relation to any application for registration under this section made before the commencement of this Act as if this Act had then been in force; and any registration before the commencement of this Act in pursuance of such an application shall be deemed to be registration under this section.

• (6) If any person—

• (a) knowingly or recklessly makes any false statement; for the purpose of obtaining for himself or any other person any sum payable by way of contribution under the. Agriculture (Fertilisers) Act 1952 ; or

• (b) wilfully makes a false entry in any document which is required to be produced for the purposes of that Act or of this section or, with intent to deceive, makes use of any such entry which he knows to be false;

he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both, or on conviction on indictment to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both.

• (7) Where an offence under this section which has been committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary, or other similar officer, of the body corporate, or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

• (8) For the purposes of this section a director or other officer of a body corporate shall be deemed to be a person employed by that body.

• (9) In this section " the Minister ", in relation to any part of Great Britain, means either that one of the Ministers who is concerned with agriculture in that part or the Ministers acting jointly.

Grants towards construction of certain buildings used by farmers' machinery syndicates

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• (1) The appropriate Minister may make grants towards the cost of constructing, enlarging or adapting buildings for occupation and use by farmers' machinery syndicates for the following purposes or any of them, or mainly for such purposes, that is to say—

• (a) the drying, cleaning or storage of grain produced by their members; and

• (b) the housing of agricultural machinery belonging to the syndicates;

and of providing such buildings with such services, means of access and other works as are reasonably required to enable them to be so used.

• (2) A grant under this section shall be made in respect of such works proposed in an application therefor made in accordance with this section as may be approved by the appropriate Minister; and any such approval may be given subject to such conditions as he may determine.

• (3) Subject to subsection (4) of this section, no such approval shall be given after the end of March 1966.

• (4) The Ministers may from time to time by order made by statutory instrument extend the period within which such an approval may be given, but not beyond the end of March 1968.

An order under this subsection shall be of no effect unless approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

• (5) An application for a grant under this section may be made by or on behalf of—

• (a) the farmers' machinery syndicate by which the building to which the application relates is or is to be occupied ; or

• (b) any person intending to make that building available for occupation by a farmers' machinery syndicate.

• (6) In this section " farmers' machinery syndicate " means an association of persons whose members are jointly and severally liable for any debts of the association and whose object or one of whose objects is the acquisition and ownership of agricultural machinery or plant for use by its members or the provision of accommodation for the storage of grain produced by its members; and references to the use of machinery or plant or the production of grain by members of such a syndicate include references to such use or production by a body corporate which is represented by a member of the syndicate.

• (7) Where any member of a farmers' machinery syndicate represents a body corporate this section does not apply in relation to the syndicate unless the body corporate is jointly and severally liable with the other members for the debts of the syndicate.

• (8) This section, in its application to Scotland, shall apply in relation to partnerships as it applies in relation to bodies corporate.

Amount of grants under s. 6 and supplementary provisions as to such grants

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• (1) The amount of any grant payable under section 6 of this Act towards the cost of any works approved thereunder shall be one-third of that cost so far as approved by the appropriate Minister as having been reasonably incurred.

• (2) The Ministers may by regulations provide that the cost of any works of any class specified in the regulations, or of a specified part of any such works, shall, at the option of the applicant for the grant, be taken to be such amount as may be so specified; and the amount of any grant payable towards the cost of any such works shall, if the applicant for the grant so elects in his application and the works are approved while the regulations are in force, be one-third of the amount so specified or, where the regulations make provision for the cost of part only of any works, one-third of the sum of the amount so specified for that part and of the actual cost (so far as approved by the appropriate Minister as having been reasonably incurred) of the remainder of the works.

• (3) The appropriate Minister may reduce the amount of the grant which would otherwise be payable under the foregoing provisions of this section, or withhold the grant, in any case where assistance in respect of the approved works is given under any other enactment.

• (4) A grant under section 6 of this Act shall be payable on the completion of the approved works and may be paid by instalments.

• (5) Regulations under this section shall be made by statutory instrument, which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament..

• (6) In this section and section 6 of this Act, " the appropriate Minister " means, in the application of the section to Scotland, the Secretary of State, and in its application to the remainder of the United Kingdom, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Grants to bodies promoting co-operation in agriculture and horticulture

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The Minister may, in such manner and subject to such conditions as he may determine, make grants to bodies of persons in England and Wales whose object or main object is the organisation, promotion or development of co-operation in agriculture or horticulture (including any activities carried on in connection therewith) or of co-operation in the marketing of agricultural or horticultural produce.

Grants for promotion of efficient marketing

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• (1) The appropriate Minister may by a scheme made with the approval of the Treasury make provision for the payment of grants towards the cost of carrying out proposals for promoting the efficient marketing of agricultural or horticultural produce, for carrying out research connected therewith, for making the result of such research available to producers of such produce, or for the formation of bodies carrying on agricultural or horticultural producers' marketing businesses.

• (2) A scheme under this section shall restrict the payment of grants to cases where the proposals are approved by the appropriate Minister before being carried out and may restrict that approval, subject to any exceptions provided by the scheme, to cases where the proposals are supported by persons appearing to the appropriate Minister to represent producers of agricultural or horticultural produce.

• (3) A scheme under this section may provide for the recovery of grants made thereunder in any case where it appears to the appropriate Minister that the carrying out of an approved proposal has been unreasonably delayed or is unlikely to be completed or that any approved proposal has been badly carried out or that any condition subject to which approval was given has not been complied with.

• (4) Where a scheme under this section provides for the recovery of grants made thereunder it shall make provision for securing that before any person is required to repay any grant—

• (a) he is given notice in writing stating the grounds on which it is proposed to recover the grant and is given an opportunity of being heard by a person appointed by the appropriate Minister for that purpose ; and

• (b) the appropriate Minister will consider the report of the person so appointed.

• (5) Subject to the next following subsection, no approval under this section shall be given after the end of March 1965.

• (6) The Ministers may from time to time by order made by statutory instrument extend the period during which such approvals may be given, but no such extension shall be for more than three years.

• (7) Where a scheme under this section requires any proposals to be supported as mentioned in subsection (2) of this section the appropriate Minister may make contributions to the expenses incurred in connection with the examination of proposals submitted for that support.

• (8) Grants made in pursuance of a scheme under this section, so much of the expenses of administering the scheme as may be incurred on behalf of the appropriate Minister by the persons mentioned in subsection (2) of this section, and contributions made under subsection (7) thereof, shall be treated as production grants for the purposes of section 3 of the Agriculture Act 1957.

• (9) The power to make a scheme under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument and includes power to vary or revoke the scheme by a subsequent scheme.

• (10) A statutory instrument containing such a scheme shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament; and an order under subsection (6) of this section shall be of no effect unless it is approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

Winter keep grants

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• (1) The appropriate Minister may from time to time by a scheme made with the approval of the Treasury make provision for the payment of grants, to be known as winter keep grants, in respect of livestock rearing land which, in any year falling within the period specified in the scheme (which shall not exceed three years) is used for growing such crops for the winter feeding of livestock as may be specified in the scheme.

• (2) A scheme under this section—

• (a) shall specify the rates of the grants by reference to the area of the land in respect of which the grants are made; and

• (b) may provide for defining or limiting the kinds of land in respect of which the grants are to be made; and

• (c) may make different provision in relation to different land or different crops.

• (3) In this section " livestock rearing land" means land falling within the definition of livestock rearing land set out in subsection (3) of section 1 of the Livestock Rearing Act 1951 and any land suitable for use with such land for livestock rearing purposes as defined by that subsection.

Grassland renovation grants

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Supplementary provisions as to schemes under two preceding sections

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Seizure of carcases, etc. liable to spread disease

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• (1) The Ministers may by order make such provision for the seizure of carcases, fodder, litter, eggs or fertilisers and the destruction, burial, disposal or (treatment of anything seized under the order as they may think expedient for preventing the spread of any disease to which this section applies.

• (2) The Minister shall pay compensation—

• (a) for anything seized under such an order for the purpose of preventing the spread of foot-and-mouth disease;

• (b) for anything seized under such an order for the purpose of preventing the spread of any other disease to which this section applies, except the carcase of any animal or bird affected with that disease.

• (3) The Ministers may by order provide for the payment by the Minister of compensation for carcases seized as aforesaid of animals or birds affected with any disease to which this section applies other than foot-and-mouth disease or fowl pest.

In this subsection " fowl pest" means fowl pest in any of its forms, including Newcastle disease and fowl plague.

• (4) The compensation payable under subsection (2) or subsection (3) of this section for anything seized shall be the value thereof at the time of the seizure.

• (5) Where anything destroyed, buried or disposed of under an order made under paragraph (v) of section 11 of the Diseases of Animals Act 1950 (which relates to infected places and areas) could have been seized under an order made under subsection (1) of this section, the Minister shall pay the like compensation (if any) therefor as if it had been so seized at the time of the destruction, burial or disposal.

• (6) This section applies to the diseases in the case of which powers of slaughter are exercisable under the Diseases of Animals Act 1950, that is to say.—