British Sugar's decision to effectively close the doors of its Newark factory has left growers with a big problem. There'll be an immediate financial hit, plus some difficult cropping conundrums...

Here's the latest from FWi.

And here's what the NFU sugar board chairman, William Martin, said at a meeting last night.

Looking at our beet in the last hour it has deteriorated somewhat alarmingly since yesterday to the point the crowns can be just pushed off with a boot! we still have around 60% of our quota in the ground which looks as good as finished.

In the days of reasonable prices a blip year was easier to accomodate although not wished for, but in the days of £26/T and less next year its a damn sight harder to swallow. British sugar need to take a long hard look at themselves how they treat their suppliers, we,ve all been pushed towards lifting 'just in time' by them to keep the under capacity factory going well in to march all at our own risk with little reward, and after 10 reasonable seasons we're all getting our fingers burnt!

You are certainly not alone!  There are plenty of beet still in the fields around here. Half of ours are still out there and deteriorating by the day. We were very lucky last year; then the frosts were not quite so severe and the warm North sea kept the frost off. It has happened before, 46 years ago, as well as a few years back.

Those at BS that knew about these things are put out to grass - the accountants rule the show. Now there is less processing capacity, haulage and harvesting capability resulting in longer campaigns and yes, more risk to the growers for a crop that is expensive to grow (properly) and poorly priced.

 How about an insurance scheme to cover this sort of crisis?  And how come some growers are nearly finished while others hardly started? are they the favoured few with big contracts?

Around here north of Newark it tends tends to be the smaller growers who get cleared up early on with current use of larger harvesting equipment they get it lifted in 1 go where as larger growers spread it out. The last time we lost beet was in 1983 the year quotas were introduced after and having 2000 tonne still in the field we were considerably worse off then too no beet was delivered after Smithfield week according to my father! In 2001 after the factory had suffered poor performance we had 70 acres that lost 5-6% sugar and had to be topped very harshly, late delivery bonuses just don't make that up! We as growers are bearing the brunt of BS's accountants, their risk is put on us!

We just do as the haulier asks as far as harvesting is concerned. Many use contractors but we still lift our own beet. I think the contractors tend to dictate to the haulier when beet will be lifted - and that means a big heap to shift.

The depressing thing at the moment is watching what was a good crop vanishing day by day. I know we have to wait our turn  for haulage/delivery and I am sure the haulier is doing his best, which is not easy given the circumstances.

The rumour on Monday was that Newark had shut and that the other factories would be closing at the weekend. I can see that the first part was wrong and hope that the second bit was as well! Having said that I am not sure how many good beet there are still out there and guess that BS don't either!

There's not much after having fieldsman looking today, our is on a par with what will be trialed tomorrow in the factory so we will see, I asked if it was left a month to see what happened as there are green shoots there but they're not sure, see what happens over next couple of days and the meeting on Thursday that's all we can do, we lift our own and a proportion of quota delivered per week is far fairer than what now happens!

What a balls up! tell BS where to go next year. Plant wall to wall spring barley, f**** them.

The rumour mill is working overtime! COULD BS TELL US WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON?.

Frustration is rising to say the least.

Wissington is to shut tomorrow apparently. Rumour yesterday was that Bury has a problem too.

Hauliers have had their permits halved and nothing much is moving.

 Meanwhile the beet are rotting out there in the fields.

BRitish Sugar has some serious bridge building to do with growers, contractors and hauliers if there is to be a future for beet growing. Or have they fouled up so badly that this will be the end of beet growing and they are too scared to tell us they are finished in the UK? 

Farmer and NFU Sugar Board chairman William Martin has written a Talking Point article for the Jan 28 issue of FW on this subject. Here's what he says:

Building a long-term relationship with a customer was never going to be easy, but the NFU’s Sugar Board certainly didn’t expect there to be so many big, early challenges to our new and improving relationship with British Sugar.

The devastating consequences of the prolonged and severe cold weather during December are the most pressing challenge, and we are working with British Sugar to try to salvage what we can.

The announcement of the beet price for 2011 – the first to be calculated using the newly agreed formula – was followed by the huge rise in the prices of alternative commodities.

While growers, on the whole, remain loyal to the sugar beet crop, this – together with the recent difficult events – has combined to cause renewed uncertainty about its future on some farms.

The difficulties facing the current campaign are evolving daily. At the time of writing, we are dealing with the implications of British Sugar’s decision to suspend deliveries from Newark beet growers. We insisted that British Sugar holds a meeting to talk to Newark growers directly, and this was due to take place yesterday (27 January).

But communications are not enough; resources need to be made available to get British Sugar on as many farms as possible, assessing crops and taking in all processable beet.

The fall-out from this is also being considered. There is no doubt that growers and British Sugar are feeling the effects, but this situation is an opportunity for British Sugar to strengthen its relationship with growers by demonstrating a true partnership.

It is important to recognise the real efforts being made by growers to deliver their processable beet under difficult circumstances.

And it is important to have a full discussion about the effects of the late factory openings at Bury and Cantley, which have had a knock-on effect on the amount of beet delivered in those areas.

This situation is also taking the NFU into unusual territory. We are talking to the RPA to improve the cashflow of affected growers by early SPS payments. And we will be talking to banks and county councils to discuss the current difficulties and seek extension of terms with affected growers.

The NFU Sugar Board remains firmly committed to working with British Sugar to maximise the long-term value of the sugar beet crop for growers. We will deal firmly and fairly with the current crisis, but we will not be deflected from our goal.

British Sugar has stated its intention that over the long-term, sugar beet should be competitive with the most attractive broad acre arable crops, and the NFU will hold it to that promise.

Here's the latest on the situation from FWi on January 27.

A lot of growers have, in the past , elected to leave beet in the ground as long as possible to maximise the late delivery bonus payment and make the crop worth a bit more. With the milder winters of the last decade this has been a relatively safe option but this season fingers have been well and truly burnt. No growers are forced to leave beet in the ground. It used to be suggested that lifting was completed by christmas and beet clamped for a couple of months. This kept machines out of wet fields but clamped beet could lose a few % of sugar over a month,especially if it warmed up. Latterly mild winters have meant beet kept better in the ground than in a clamp. This year's problems are not caused by British Sugar and they would much rather process the stuff than see it rot. Talk of compensation is rediculous.

 As for the 2011 crop price if growers didn't like the offer why accept it? I would much rather have todays £420/t for rape than the £330 I sold most of it for, can I have compensation please for more poor decision making?

In the past factories shut towards the end of January, now Newark tends to be mid march as it's processing more than it used to with the closure of other factories that is something BS had control over, it would be nice to be lifted by Christmas but permits are spread over a far longer campaign, being done by Christmas this year would be easier said than done as from the last week in November until Christmas we were covered in nearly 2 ft of snow, as for late delivery bonus, get real do you think that makes such a difference, a crop of wheat put in in November will be far more beneficial. We have the risk associated with BS's efficiency!

No-one in the old York factory area will be surprised at BSC's contempt for growers. Until this winter we were still distraught at losing beet as a crop but having seen the problems everyone is having at the moment we feel glad to be rid of it - there is quite a bit of fodder beet grown up here and large areas of it are rotting in the ground. Hope BSC help all you beet guys out but don't hold your breath...!

Well it's not going to be much help, no nothing apart from ignoring this year in future quoto allocations and if you've not covered your seed cost rolling it over.... Wait for it..... Interest free! You don't really know the depths of the problem until a meeting like today when growers south of the factory had watched lorries from east Anglia coming up while they're there permits knocked off and beet waiting to be delivered. I just wonder if there was a quota out goers scheme now how many growers they'll have left! When beet had a decent profit margin you could stand a bad year here and there but not at current levels!

It looks like its goining to be a terrible mess for growers hauliers and bs to sort out this year, lets hope they take action and dont do repeat the same season as the recent years as it could happen again and at the current prices of inputs and little return bs are going to ruin a good crop in a good growing country. They need to hurry the start of the season up to get more of the crop in before the wetter and colder months and as others have said hail them up in early december as they will secure more crop getting to the factory in a good condition in years such as this. Mine for example the final half were all lifted in the end of november as i wanted to get wheat in and as the low price of beet i wasnt really worried about them i didnt straw them up it now january and they have all been fine in clamp with the bs people saying wed have no problem getting them in and how many have we got left. My final load will go in on saturaday i am a small grower but i lift and cart my own and believe the beet would have last another month or two in clamp they just seem better off there than my farming neibours beet sitting waiting to lift there rotten beet which wont probably make the factory, especially when you see them spreading them back on the field with a muckspreader! Alex from norfolk

enteralterego "We have the risk associated with BS's efficiency!"

More fool you then. If you don't like it put your wheat in in November and stop moaning about a severe winter. You could have had it all lifted and cleared in the last wek of September but you chose to gamble on bulking up yield and leaving it in the field. Tough.

was the late opening of factories a factor in all this?

is BS not really interested in beet growers, only in collecting massive subsidies from brussels?

is there not a world shortage of sugar?

Now you are showing your uckwittedness, yeah we could have it lifted by the end of September but certainly not have it cleared, permits are issued throughout the season and you can't deliver without, trying to squeeze every penny out of the job no!!! Just a living!!

British Sugar has announced a "quota amnesty"...

I don't think this is quite right Markw.

Like it or not we are all operating business models where BS have a considerable influence over our decision making. The same principle does not apply with your oilseed rape example.

 The reason BS will end up having to put their hands in their pockets over this is to ensure an ongoing supply of beet. Its pure economics.

as an ex sugar beet grower got stitched up last time when the factory in the north closed had to accept peanuts for quota now I hear some are paying £30. a ton for the quota this time round.the NFU are only interested in the big farms the rest of us can whistle .anyway to my point it now seems fodder beet price has fallen and guess what us livestock farmers are getting calls asking if we want to buy beet.Yes I have brought some from farmers that have always been fair over straw.will the rest of the  farmers selling sugar beet for feed help the livestock industry at harvest with straw i know what my answer is.

 

today we lifted some sugarbeet toping to ground destorying half the beet got to factory rejected ask why have you brought that rubish here !!!!!

would you not try your beet with at lest 80000 pounds in the ground!!!!! how many more get this good old british sugar treament!!!!!! good luck the rest of you

can you ferment it down into methanol?