Beet compensation must be paid directly to quota farmers

ANY compensation for surrendering beet quota must be paid directly to the farmers who were filling the quota, demanded Macra president Colm Markey, who warned that last week’s EU sugar industry proposals threatened to wipe out the beet industry in Ireland.

Mr Markey said: “Many young farmers have purchased beet quota in recent years through a Government sanctioned restructuring scheme, and to suggest that any of this quota could be expunged by the EU without the farmers receiving the compensation is totally unacceptable.”

The issue of who would receive the compensation in a buyout scenario needed to be resolved immediately in Ireland, which Mr Markey said differs from many other member states.

His demands mirror those of IFA, which wants full compensation paid direct to growers, and support also viable, alternative crop enterprises. IFA Sugar Beet Committee chairman Jim O’Regan said growers could not continue if the proposed beet price cut of 47% goes ahead.

“The challenge facing Minister Coughlan is to radically scale back the proposed price cuts so that growers can continue to have a profitable crop,” he said.