Quote:
"Everything we have seen on the Continent shows that the worries about organic production can be solved, although it won't suit everybody," Limb said.
British Sugar was impressed by yields of up to 60 tonnes of organic beet per hectare, which is above the British average, and also by the success of weed control without herbicides.
[for more on anti-organic hype see:
http://members.tripod.com/~ngin/organic.htm ]
---
UK: British Sugar Seeks More Organic Farmers
1 Sep 2000
Reuters
By Peter Blackburn
LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - British Sugar Plc, Britain's sole sugar beet processor, said on Friday it was seeking more farmer support before deciding whether to press ahead with the production of organic sugar.
"We have widened the net to include non-beet growers," said Robin Limb, project manager at British Sugar, a unit of Associated British Foods . Limb said British Sugar was writing to some 50 farmers who had said that they would like to start producing beet and to use organic methods.
More than 150 farmers had registered for organic beet production and a further 300 had expressed an interest, he said. "We're looking for growers of a suitable yield and location near to beet processing factories," Limb told Reuters.
Limb said he was confident of achieving a target of 300 hectares to obtain the critical volume of 10,000 tonnes of beet based on a modest average yield of 33 tonnes per hectare.
British Sugar is offering a 45 percent premium above the basic beet price to compensate growers for lower yields and higher labour and mechanical weed control costs.
Farmers also have to undergo a two-year conversion period to qualify for organic status.
But British sugar may have to increase its offer to attract more organic growers.
"Some farmers believe the premium isn't high enough," said Matt Twidale, chairman of the National Farmers' Union's beet committee.
British Sugar believes higher weed control costs will be partially offset by savings on herbicides and pesticides and that yields will rise in the long term as soil quality improves.
British Sugar visited organic beet farms in Denmark and Sweden and was impressed by what it saw. "Everything we have seen on the Continent shows that the worries about organic production can be solved, although it won't suit everybody," Limb said.
British Sugar was impressed by yields of up to 60 tonnes of organic beet per hectare, which is above the British average, and also by the success of weed control without herbicides.
In Denmark, where farmers are offered a price premium of just over 50 percent, the organic sugar area doubled this year to 50 hectares. "We see an increasing trend towards organic sugar but it's still at a very low level," Danisco sugar communications manager Thomas Olsen told Reuters.
In the Netherlands, Suiker Unie expects to produce more than 1,000 tonnes of organic sugar in 2000/01. It offers farmers a 50 percent price premium. "It's an important and rapidly growing market niche. Our customers tell us that they want home grown organic white beet sugar both for its quality and traceability," Limb said.
Britain's 8,500 beet farmers produced 1.54 million tonnes of conventional white sugar in 1999/2000 (Oct-Sept).
(C) Reuters Limited 2000.