We make our cropping plans for the next year in June generally. It is not always easy to fit nearly ten crops and their rotational requirements on to the land that suits them best. Market conditions change, as do agrochemical approvals and we have to adjust.

Next year, for the first time in perhaps one hundred years we are not making plans to grow Sugar Beet. Fred Buck in the 1920’s started growing beet for the company that has become British Sugar and we have had beet on the farm every year since. On our best silt land we have been amongst the best growers, often achieving 100 tonnes of beet per hectare in recent years. 

We produce, in this country, about half the sugar we consume but of course most advice would be that we all consume a lot more sugar than we should so we cannot expect growing demand.

Our sugar beet is usually harvested in November and December and put into a clamp until it is delivered to the factory at Wissington, probably in January. It is not the best time to be harvesting a root crop and we have to set off the difficulties against the income which is declining whilst costs are increasing.

There has been an element of protection for sugar beet growers until recently and beet has justified its place in our rotations. The European Union has maintained a quota system. That stopped a couple of years ago and with Brexit approaching it is likely that our market will be open to cane sugar producers in Brazil, Australia and the rest of the world. In recent years the world sugar market has been oversupplied with consequent low prices.

Additionally, this year for the first time growers have not been allowed to use a seed dressing to control aphids and the disease they carry, Virus Yellows. This dressing has contained a neonicotinamide insecticide and the debate around this particular group of chemicals is very controversial. Nevertheless, our fields and most others this year look more yellow than green and we are certainly not expecting record crops.

So, alas, a long tradition is over but we are lucky on our land that we have alternatives.