Sugar beet growers remain optimistic despite disease risks

The future of British sugar beet looks positive, with domestic demand for sugar expected to stay firm and technologies such as gene editing offering longer-term opportunities.

However, in the short term, increased disease risk and greater competition from imports pose risks for the sector.

A request for emergency authorisation for the use of Cruiser SB neonicotinoid seed treatment on sugar-beet crops was turned down by Defra last year, after being granted in previous years, which left the sugar-beet sector with fewer resources to tackle diseases.

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NFU Sugar Board chairman Kit Papworth said: “Neonicotinoid seed treatments were an incredibly effective tool, and in growing sugar beet without them, we’re growing the crop with a much higher risk.”

He added that growers were fortunate last year due the lower disease prevalence, but may not be as lucky this season, which could pose a serious problem.

Mr Papworth suggested that when the decision was made by environment minister Emma Hardy to not renew the derogation for neonicotinoid seed treatments, she had committed to continue to talk and meet with the sugar-beet sector about support for the industry.

However, he said as far as he was aware those meetings had not yet happened. 

Import pressure

The NFU Sugar Board has also raised further concerns due to greater competition from sugar imports.

Mr Papworth said he was particularly concerned about the government’s decision to grant additional autonomous tariff quota tonnage to Tate and Lyle, which allows 325,000t of raw cane sugar a year to enter the UK tariff-free.

He said: “This is effectively competing against domestic sugar production.

“Those tonnes are coming in without a tariff and displacing British sugar beet in the marketplace.

“Unless we can appeal against it, it’s a decision which is going to stay until 2033.”

Dynamic alignment with EU standards, as being sought by government, was also a concern for growers.

“We’re worried that there will be a considerable amount of concessions made, which may impact on our industry quite significantly,” said Mr Papworth.

“We need the government really to back up our industry, right across the sector, both in combinable crops and in sugar beet, to make sure that we’ve still got the tools available to us going forward.”

Future prospects

The potential of gene-edited varieties could prove very valuable for the sugar sector and for controlling virus yellows and other pests and disease problems, according to Mark Stevens, head of science at the British Beet Research Organisation.

However, he does not expect these varieties to be available commercially for up to eight years.

“We have to do some scientific diligence to make sure that anything we do is effective, but also durable,” said Dr Stevens.

“Then they will have to go through a process, like any variety that comes onto the recommended list.”

Demand for sugar

Mr Papworth said that as an island nation with a large and growing urban population, there is huge demand for UK sugar.

He added that weight-loss drugs were reducing demand for food in general, but there was still a huge market for sugar.

“We need to make sure that sugar isn’t being imported into this country, potentially produced to different standards to the standards that we are required to produce from a UK farmer perspective.

“Government threats and trade deal threats are probably our biggest problem.”