Sugar industry reforms - Farmers’ demands are justified

IRISH farmers have good reason to fear the repercussions of EU proposals for the ‘reform’ of Europe’s sugar industry.

The swinging demands, involving a 47% cut in beet prices, would send many to the wall and threaten the future of the country’s only processing factory at Mallow in North Cork. The reality is that 3,700 farming families in this country are heavily dependent on sugar beet production. If their livelihoods are ruined in the interest of world trade, then their demands for compensation are fully justified.

The EU package has global implications. Undoubtedly, the plight of sugar cane farmers in Third World countries must be recognised and their access to markets guaranteed. It makes no sense for the EU to fork out €3.30 for every euro of sugar sold under subsidy. But nor does it make sense to impose such a harsh price regime on European producers that thousands will be driven out of business overnight.