ditchman Posted December 17, 2018 Report Share Posted December 17, 2018 went past a harvested field of sugar beet today.............3 years ago on that field was about 150-200 tonnes of well formed beet in a long pile waiting to be riddled and loaded........... same field......a pile of sugarbeet about 20 yards long 30 tonnes ..maybe...ive seen bigger parsnips...and was full of tares and tops.........rekon that cost more to harvest than what he will get for it...should have just rotovated the whole crop in.................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billytheghillie Posted December 17, 2018 Report Share Posted December 17, 2018 Ditchie, I watched a programme recently and the sugar beet farmer said it is a dying trade. Reason was everybody is going sugar free daft. I blame the govs health experts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted December 17, 2018 Report Share Posted December 17, 2018 Other problems for the sugarbeet industry include the fact that the factories stand idle for more months of the year than they work and retaining staff for what must be a part time job. Some sugarbeet is grown in these parts still but there is a long haul to the nearest factory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted December 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2018 I think the base of the problem started 3 or 4 years ago when the chinese started to build their own factories...as they used to take 400.000 tonnes of sugar from the world market every year............then the EU released the quoter system thus allowing every tom willy and harry to grow beet in europe ..paying their workers 10p a day wages...and selling on the the world market.........British sugar just couldnt compete with that unfareness ...so they diversified into tomatoe CO2 production converted oil and coal boilers to gas....etc....but still wasnt enough to compete with the surfit of sugar on the world mkt caused by the chinese growing their own and very cheap labour in the EU.......... My worry is that the EU will cause the collapse of the sugar industry in this country...and we will be going to the world mkt to buy what we need...then the EU will go belly up and the poo pot nations of the EU that produce sugar now ..unfettered ..will collapse cause the EU dosh aint there to buy maitenace packs for them........ then for a time there will be a sugar shortage........ its crazy when you think about it....but the Common Market was there to stop this sort of thing ...butter mountains wine lakes ..etc..........and now its causing the problem HHmmmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenholland Posted December 17, 2018 Report Share Posted December 17, 2018 we use 'd to have one kiddeminster , year's ago you could see the steam for miles , when it packed up, one of my perms sold his gear , because the next drop for beet was too far away . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehb102 Posted December 17, 2018 Report Share Posted December 17, 2018 Doesn't help when Tesco stop selling British sugar. I have to go elsewhere for Silver Spoon now. I don't want cane sugar for most things, it has a different price and the distance it has travelled is shocking. And how much for? A penny to the consumer. Not to mention Tate and Lyle do inferior icing sugar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted December 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2018 1 hour ago, ehb102 said: Doesn't help when Tesco stop selling British sugar. I have to go elsewhere for Silver Spoon now. I don't want cane sugar for most things, it has a different price and the distance it has travelled is shocking. And how much for? A penny to the consumer. Not to mention Tate and Lyle do inferior icing sugar. a while ago.........to make more use of this factory..British sugar was on the cusp of bringing in cane sugar (liquid).from Mozambique...and using barges to take it down the Yare to the Cantley factory.................i think politics put a stop to that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted December 18, 2018 Report Share Posted December 18, 2018 Shooting up near Horncastle yesterday and there were a few goodly sized piles of good looking beat awaiting transport. Some of our pegs where set in the middle of harvested fields and was I glad of that, as walking through a field of beat is a nightmare and picking up as bad a a good rape crop of which we saw a good few yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted December 18, 2018 Report Share Posted December 18, 2018 14 hours ago, ehb102 said: Doesn't help when Tesco stop selling British sugar. I have to go elsewhere for Silver Spoon now. I don't want cane sugar for most things, it has a different price and the distance it has travelled is shocking. And how much for? A penny to the consumer. Not to mention Tate and Lyle do inferior icing sugar. Good to have another perspective on the subject! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
decoy1979 Posted December 18, 2018 Report Share Posted December 18, 2018 23 hours ago, billytheghillie said: Ditchie, I watched a programme recently and the sugar beet farmer said it is a dying trade. Reason was everybody is going sugar free daft. I blame the govs health experts. That's not strictly true as UK consumption is around 2.2 million tonnes per year and although consumption per head may be declining population is increasing therefore cancelling out effect. Maybe Brixit will be a positive for the UK sugar industry & farming?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted December 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2018 1 hour ago, decoy1979 said: That's not strictly true as UK consumption is around 2.2 million tonnes per year and although consumption per head may be declining population is increasing therefore cancelling out effect. Maybe Brixit will be a positive for the UK sugar industry & farming?? farmers seem to be split on this question..............ive got a sneaking suspision that it will be very good for farming in general once all the bad stuff settles down.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrpip Posted December 21, 2018 Report Share Posted December 21, 2018 Beets been poor round here this year, plenty being harvested at present but the yield is well down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getthegat Posted December 21, 2018 Report Share Posted December 21, 2018 Was talking to a farm manager this morning, he said their sugar beet harvest this year was excellent and they got good money for it. Apparently it's good for the clay soil, breaks it up a d helps for the next crop, which is wheat for next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted December 22, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2018 On 21/12/2018 at 22:08, getthegat said: Was talking to a farm manager this morning, he said their sugar beet harvest this year was excellent and they got good money for it. Apparently it's good for the clay soil, breaks it up a d helps for the next crop, which is wheat for next year. the clay hangs on to moisture a lot longer than the light loams up here......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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