Factory jobs depend on farmers’ decision on beet

SIPTU has called on the country’s 3,700 beet farmers to respond positively to a request from Greencore to grow a crop for this season’s sugar campaign — and to sustain the Irish sugar industry for the foreseeable future.

The call was made as beet growers ended a week of nationwide meetings on their future, in the wake of radical reform of the sector by the European Union.

Growers have until tomorrow to indicate to Greencore whether they are prepared to grow the crop for processing at the country's remaining sugar factory, in Mallow.