Memorandum submitted by Andrew Houlden
(O3)
1. I write as a chartered surveyor and land
agent dealing with many farmers currently growing sugar beet upon
their farm. I would like to see a stable market for my clients
ensuring that sugar beet is a viable crop for them to grow in
the future. I would like write to see the retention of the current
annual contract system as, having being involved with the trading
of contract tonnage during the trading period in 2001, when many
farmers invested considerable sums of money into contract tonnage,
it would now be very unfair to see their expenditure, on this
particular asset, being taken away by the stroke of a pen.
2. I am also aware that the UK sugar beet
industry is one of the most competitive in the EU, with growers
producing high-yielding crops, which are processed by cost-efficient
factories. The UK sugar industry is also important as its supports
a lot of mainly rural jobs through the processing chain, be it
farmers and their workers growing the crop, contractors involved
in possibly drilling, harvesting and hauling the crop through
to the British Sugar employees involved in all the aspects of
the processing of beet into sugar.
3. Sugar beet also provides an important
"break crop" in many arable farms rotations spreading
workloads over the full year and providing numerous environmental
benefits.
4. I further understand that there is currently
a roughly equal balance between UK grown beet sugar and imported
cane sugar and that this matches national consumption. It would
seem strange to implement any change that upsets this balance.
I therefore consider that the options for liberalisation or large
price reductions are non starters as they will dramatically upset
this balance. I believe that the only way forward is to promote
a "stable market" by simplifying the current system
and making small reductions in both quotas and prices. This in
turn relies on supply controls being exercised in Europe on both
production and imports.
17 March 2004
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