Former beet growers receive €1.7m payment

Sugar beet is still a paying crop in Ireland — with about 3,000 former beet growers receiving a delayed €1.7m refund from the EU this week.

The refund relates to overpaid levies in 2004, which are only being returned to growers, at a rate of €1.24 per tonne of beet in the 2004 contracts.

The EU’s sugar regime was reformed in 2006, resulting in Greencore deciding to close the only remaining Irish sugar factory in Mallow, thus ending Irish beet processing.