Beet farmers say ‘No Sell Out’to EU reforms
Beet growers from all over the country turned out to support the Irish Farmers Association in its rejection of EU reform proposals, ahead of crucial negotiations at a Council of Farm Ministers in Brussels later this week.
Over 100 loads of sugar beet plus specialised machinery associated with the crop, including harvesters used in eight decades of sugar beet production, paraded through the town and linked up with the protestors for a march led by Newmarket Pipe Band.
The EU is proposing a 39% price cut in the institutional price for sugar, a corresponding reduction in the minimum price for sugar beet and 60% compensation to farmers for the price cut. A voluntary restructuring scheme is proposed to encourage factory closures and the renunciation of quota.
Addressing the crowd outside Mallow Sugar Factory, IFA president John Dillon rejected out of hand the reform proposals, which, he said, would wipe out the livelihoods of beet growers in Ireland.
“It is a black day for beet growers who are fighting to keep their industry going. Beet is the cornerstone of a profitable tillage sector which is now under threat because of the EU proposals,” he said.
Mr Dillon said beet production would not be viable at €25 per tonne.
With costs at €30 per tonne, profit will be wiped out.
The Farm Council meeting in Brussels this week would be a major test for Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan to hold the present beet price.
“No grower wants to be forced out of beet, but if the EU Commission closes down the industry, there’s no way the compensation should go to Greencore.
It must go to beet growers. “Growers have invested in land, quota and machinery and they’re not going to be forced out and allow Greencore walk away with €145 million,” he said.
IFA Sugar Beet Committee chairman Jim O’Regan said growers reject the destruction of sugar beet as a profitable crop and the devastation of their livelihood. They were not going to work at below the cost of production.
The sugar industry involves 3,700 beet growing families and supports a further 4,000 people through direct and indirect employment, including that provided by hauliers, agricultural contractors and input services, he said, calling on the Government to strongly defend the sector.
Minister of State Michael Ahern said Minister Coughlan has again reiterated that the commission proposals are unacceptable in their present form, and would lead to drastic consequences in a number of countries, especially in Ireland. Mallow Deputy Mayor Noel O’Connor said the campaign to save the town’s sugar factory has the full support of the local people. If the EU proposals are adopted it will not be economically viable for farmers to grow beet.
“If there is no beet grown here then there will be no need for the Mallow factory,” he said, calling for the retention of the sugar industry and its jobs and a secure future for beet growers.
* The proposed EU reforms include a 39% price cut for sugar beet and 60% compensation to farmers.
* Beet growers claim it will be uneconomic to produce beet at €25/t and they will be forced out of production.
* Greencore Sugar insists it cannot and will not operate without an appropriate level of profitability and neither does it expect its suppliers to do so.
* The industry is worth €140 million to the national economy.
