Those sugar beet growers who did not come to the meeting at Whittlesey last July (and 300 growers did attend) might be interested in the following e-mail I have sent to the participants.

Dear Sugar Beet grower I am e-mailing you because you came to the meeting (or showed an interest) last July at Whittlesey. It seems to have been a worthwhile exercise because the eventual price we received from British Sugar increased by a total of £2 per tonne over what had previously been proposed. This meant that an extra £14 million went into the pockets of British sugar beet growers.

I had hoped that this year the negotiations between the NFU and British Sugar would go smoothly and be successful. Alas, it seems that they did not. Indeed it now looks as if they have broken down altogether. For this reason I thought it would be useful - and maybe even interesting - to hold another meeting of sugar beet growers so we could take the temperature of you, the growers, and hopefully come to some agreement as to what the absolute minimum price we would be prepared to plant a crop in the ground next spring.

I had settled on a date (Monday September 7th), a time (11.30am) and had booked a venue (the East of England Showground). Roger and Sarah Easton’s barn is, alas, full of wheat! But before I sent out invitations I felt it only sensible to inform the NFU. However, when I told William Martin (NFU Sugar Beet Chairman) he announced that the NFU themselves were going to hold a meeting of their own. He e-mailed me that “it would be better if you did not hold your proposed meeting on September 7th.”

As a (moderately) loyal NFU member, I agreed - rather reluctantly - to cancel our meeting. I tell you this in the hopes that you will go along to the NFU meeting (which I believe is being held at 8am on September 2nd) and be as blunt and outspoken as you were at Whittlesey last July. I also hope that the NFU and British Sugar will come up with a workable system so that we don’t have to go through this ridiculous rigmarole every year.

With best wishes. Oliver Walston