By unlocking the export potential China offers the pig industry, not to mention the red meat sector as a whole, we could gain entry into a marketplace which comprises a fifth of the world’s population.Calls for solidarity ahead of sugar price meeting
THE NFU has called on sugar growers to show solidarity ahead of its price meeting next month after recent talks with British Sugar collapsed.
The meeting will take place at September 2 at the East of England showground and NFU sugar board chairman William Martin said growers needed to give a clear message to British Sugar that they will not accept the price currently on offer.
He said: “Ideally we need a contract that gives beet growers confidence to invest in the future and ensure a sustainable supply,
“However the negotiations have ended in deadlock. There is no agreement for a one-year deal, let alone a longer term framework.
“An unequivocal show of solidarity of support for the NFU’s position will make it clear to British Sugar that growers are united in their rejection of a price cut in 2010.
“The processor must recognise that the current uncertainty and absence of agreement risk jeopardising the volume of beet planted in 2010, and may well trigger a switch from beet to oilseed rape over the next few weeks.
“A clear message from growers to British Sugar is now required, both to underline growers’ resolve to stick together and to highlight to the processor the negative repercussions of their current stance on the beet price.”
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Readers' comments (2)
Sarah Easton | 24 August 2009 11:02 am
A large turn out at this meeting will reinforce the "farmer power" that was demonstarted when over 300 farmers attended the Growers Meeting last July and it will demonstrate to British Sugar that sugar beet growers are, and shall continue to be a united and powerful community.
What we want is a FAIR price and a stable pricing framework that will allow us to see that there is a long term future in beet growing. There was no conception in my mind that last year's £2 increase was a temporary appeasement to be snatched back now because the price of fertiliser has gone down!
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Anonymous | 24 August 2009 12:22 pm
It is wrong to try to cut the price to British growers when floods in Brazil and drought in India are predicted to lead to an 80% increase in the price of cane sugar. British Sugar will regret it when they can't get hold of sugar beet and the world price of sugar has been nearly doubled.
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