Archive Article: 2000/01/28
What am I going to do with all this C beet? Lincs grower Mark Ireland has some suggestions for British Sugar.
Mark Ireland
Mark Ireland farms with
his father and brother at
Grange Farm, North
Rauceby, Lincs. Sugar beet
and barley are the core
crops on the 1004ha (2481
acres) heathland unit
NEW Year sees my fathers annual rainfall record return to zero and thoughts turn to the coming year and whether we will receive sufficient rain. Having no irrigation the profitability of our drought prone, limestone heath is largely dependent on what falls from above, however good management is. With 692mm (27in) of rain in 1999, the most since the 1960s, it was an excellent year for yields. Shame about the prices.
Sugar beet performance in particular is dependent on our rainfall, or often lack of it. Like many others we are going to produce a huge quantity of unprofitable C-beet this year. At the last estimate it will be 64% of quota. That cannot continue, so for the third year running we have raised our budget yield which now stands at 43.9t/ha (17.7t/acre). The resultant cut in area will go into a spring break crop. We all know which way the weather will go now!
What can we do with so much C-beet? I have two ideas. On the growers side, would it be feasible to store one years C-beet and deliver it as A and B at the beginning of the following years campaign? Conversely, could British Sugar take delivery of the C-beet now, but set it against next years A and B quota?
Following an impressive demonstration we have just bought a Bailey Beeteaper trailer. Its extra steep tip and hydraulic tailgate mean that with a little care the clamp can be built without recourse to the loader, and it has low ground pressure tyres. Come summer it will be equally useful for grain. I feel all new machinery must offer something extra over that which it is replacing and the Beeteaper does that.
Finally, an apology to the residents of Rauceby and Sleaford. It wasnt the millennium bug that caused your power cut on New Years Eve but the touch of my teleporter on the overhead cables. Sorry! *