Sugar Beet

Spring husbandry can provide both value and diversity within a rotation, often demonstrate lower yield variability and can show a better return than their autumn counterparts per £1 spent – although they often struggle to match the best gross margins. But which spring cropping option to choose? Rachel Hicks writes.

British Sugar is inviting sugar beet growers to produce additional tonnes in 2022 at a fixed price of £27/t; a 33% increase on the previous year’s contract price. Farmers interested in growing beet are also welcome to apply for their own contract or explore other growing options on offer.

NFU Sugar and British Sugar have today announced a one-year sugar beet contract from 2022, including the continuation of the Virus Yellows assurance scheme and the futures-linked contract.

Stewardship guidelines aimed at protecting workers hand-pulling bolters and weed beet from sugar beet crops were introduced by Bayer in 2018 with the intention of promoting product stewardship and operator safety.

Despite the unseasonably cold weather continuing across much of the UK, sugar beet growers must continue to monitor aphid migration closely to best protect crops until they reach the critical 12-leaf growth stage

A particularly cold April has put more pressure on sugar beet farmers than usual, making it vital that every possible action is taken to ensure yields are optimised and able to fulfil their potential. The key to achieving this? A robust nutrient management programme.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued an emergency authorisation (EA) for the use of InSyst (acetamiprid) on sugar beet.

A new seed treatment, launched in November 2020 at the digital CropTec show, is demonstrating impressive sugar beet yield improvements and substantially reduced dirt tare, in on-going trial programmes.

Farmers are expected to be able to use a product containing thiamethoxam for the treatment of sugar beet seed in 2021, under strict conditions.

The UK’s leading farm assurance body, Red Tractor, is urging farmers to engage in a consultation on how its farm standards should evolve.

The platform will initially be tested by a pilot group of growers as part of a year-long pilot programme.

NFU Sugar has urged the government to abandon its proposed tariff-free quota for raw cane sugar imports because of its potential to undercut British growers with sugar grown in ways that would be illegal in the UK, threaten the viability of a British success story and undermine the government’s commitment to developing countries.