Sugar beet growers are urged to drive yields hard off the smallest possible area to meet quota and help overcome a 24% price cut for the 2015-16 campaign.

Processor British Sugar has had its hands tied by the global and domestic sugar surplus, forcing it to reduce the contracted tonnage by 20% and reduce the price paid to growers from £31.67/t to £24/t.

While some opted to take a sugar beet “holiday” in 2015-16, only 11% of the area was abandoned voluntarily, so a 9% cut has been enforced elsewhere.

In addition, British Sugar will pay no more than £5/t for surplus beet and growers will only need to produce 90% of their contract tonnage rolling over two years, rather than 95%, before receiving a penalty – all to discourage overproduction.

With this in mind, growers should look to be conservative with planted areas and aim for the highest possible yield to dilute costs of production, Charles Whittaker of agri-business consultants Brown & Co tells Farmers Weekly.

“We have had some stonking yields this year and the question is, can we repeat it again next season? I suspect the answer is no.

“However, most should be striving for 70t/ha to hit quota and those on stronger soils achieving 80-90t/ha, adjust your area accordingly to ensure you don’t overproduce,” he says.

Mr Whittaker explains that growers should forget about “C” beet – surplus grown over contracted tonnage – unless you can sell it into an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant at a good price.

“There are opportunities to get £31-32/t, but they are very isolated cases and many farmers won’t be able to make that work,” Mr Whittaker adds.

Progressive crop

The story of British sugar beet has been astonishing in recent times, with growers having produced a record-breaking crop in five of the past 10 years.

With the average yield from the 2014-15 campaign expected to hit 80t/ha, it is set to repeat the feat yet again and yields in variety trials have hit a staggering 160t/ha.

British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO) lead scientist Mark Stevens says that growers can take the lessons learned last season to help maximise 2015-16 crop yields.

“Weather will of course have the biggest influence, but the science behind growing sugar beet is improving all the time.

“Starting off on the right foot will be crucial, so drill as soon as conditions allow, because we know you lose about 1t/ha of yield each day you wait after mid-March,” Dr Stevens says.

Richard Powell, managing director at seed breeder Strube, agrees that getting the crop off to the best possible start would be the critical factor in realising the potential of the crop.

“About 70% of the crop’s potential is decided at drilling, so choose the right variety, get your ground preparations right and sugar beet should pay hand over fist,” he says.  

Growers on the 2015-16 campaign

Graham McIntyre – J Bealby & Sons, Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire sugar beet grower Graham McIntyre is seeing the positives in next season’s contract reduction, with an opportunity to address weed beet issues on some of his land.

He grew 65ha for the current campaign and estimates the farm will be 30-40% over quota, with his beet routinely irrigated to push yields on light soils.

“Next year we will aim to hit our quota from 35ha and will push the crop hard, although we might need to control the irrigation carefully to ensure we don’t grow excess.

“There will be no shortcuts, as we still need to hit more than 80t/ha, but would rather go down this route than growing a bigger area and not pushing the yield,” explains Mr McIntyre.

With 30ha of beet land being taken out of production, the gap will be filled with forage maize grown for a local AD plant, a crop that offers a good weed beet control opportunity.

“With grain prices fairly volatile at the moment, sugar beet still looks to be a good earner on our light land and we don’t have much invested in the crop, so it will remain in the rotation for the foreseeable future,” he adds.

David White – Hawk Mill Farm, Little Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire

Sugar beet grower and precision farming expert David White has been increasing the production efficiency across his beet area and as a result will be more resilient to a price cut next season.

He believes precision farming methods are now essential in row crop production and advises fellow growers to adopt the techniques to “chip away” at costs.

“We shouldn’t take a broad-brush approach and with the price cut we need to be as efficient as possible, not only benefitting the beet crop, but the whole rotation,” says Mr White.

A grower group, including Mr White, set up an RTK network in 2010 and he now employs a controlled traffic system, variable rate fertiliser and seed and auto shut-off on his sprayer and seed drill.

While making savings on inputs, he will not be cutting corners when producing about 64ha of beet for the 2015-16 campaign, and will give the crop all it needs to achieve high yield.

“It is very much an important part of our rotation, as we need diversity in our cropping plans to stay on top of problems such as blackgrass,” says Mr White.

Christopher Rutterford – Rutterford Brothers, Swaffham, Norfolk

Norfolk light land grower Christopher Rutterford believes the psychology for beet growers will be to cut corners to cut costs, but basic economics will ensure his business does the opposite.

His current crop hit 100t/ha in some fields this year, and while he is reducing his beet hectares next year, he is striving for a farm average of 70t/ha – 2t/ha over the farm’s 68t/ha historical average.

This will mean investing in a robust three-spray herbicide programme and a two-spray fungicide programme on his typically late-lifted crop, using the best-quality products.

“You just can’t afford to cut costs on inputs and lose yield, as it will increase your cost per tonne, so we’ll aim to get the crop away quickly and go hell for leather.

“One area to save some money is the harvest and haulage costs and we will be signing up to British Sugar’s haulage scheme next season to claim the £1/t allowance,” says Mr Rutterford.

He adds that the crop will continue to play an important role in the farm’s cropping plans. “Sugar beet has kept Norfolk farming in business over many years.”