Memorandum submitted by Broom's Barn Research
Station
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Broom's Barn Research Station is the National
Centre for Sugar Beet Research and a Division of Rothamsted Research,
a major BBSRC sponsored Institute. Our remit and expertise permit
us only to address question 3—environmental consequences
of the EU Commission proposals for reform of the EU sugar regime
implications for UK agriculture and land use.
Sugar beet is an annual crop, sown in spring
and harvested in autumn and winter. It must be grown in rotation
with other crops (maximum frequency of beet cropping is every
third year). In the UK only about 5% of beet crops are irrigated.
1. ENVIRONMENT
AND LANDSCAPE
DIVERSITY IN
THE UK
Sugar beet is a spring crop, so makes an important
contribution to landscape and habitat diversity in the UK. There
is consensus that the doubling of the proportion of winter cropping
in the landscape during 1970-90 was a major factor in the decline
of many bird, small mammal and wild arable plant (weed) species.
Our own work shows that loss of the sugar beet crop from the UK
would further increase the dominance of winter cropping and exacerbate
this situation[12];
as does the submission of English Nature to the previous Defra
enquiry[13].
Current policy objectives require an increase
in spring cropping. For this to occur, the spring crop must be
economically sustainable. Appropriately reformed but still economically
viable, the sugar beet crop could play an important role in meeting
societal objectives for the countryside.
2. USE OF
FRESH WATER
RESOURCES
Sugar beet, grown in England, uses approximately
one third as much freshwater per tonne of sugar produced[14]
as sugar cane grown in the tropics and sub tropics[15].
The reasons for this are very fundamental biology.
Photosynthetic efficiency is only slightly temperature dependent,
whereas crop water consumption is highly temperature dependent.
Water use efficiency is therefore favoured by low evaporative
demand environments.
Shortage of freshwater globally is recognised
as one of the greatest challenges facing mankind in the 21st century.
Thus from a global freshwater perspective, it makes no sense to
produce sugar from irrigated sugar cane in the sub-tropics, particularly
for export to temperate countries, when it can be produced with
greater water use efficiency in western and central Europe, including
the UK.
3. PESTICIDE
USE
Problems arising from pesticide use are generally
over estimated in sugar beet and under estimated in sugar cane.
For example, recent research[16]
shows that no water quality problems arise in the UK from sugar
beet production, and that toxicity risk to non-target fauna from
the use of pesticides in beet is similar to that of wheat.
Dr John Pidgeon
Director
Broom's Barn Research Station
September 2005
12 Jaggard, K W & Pidgeon, J D 2004. Evidence
submitted by Broom's Barn to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Committee on Sugar Regime Reform, March 2004. Back
13
English Nature submission to Defra consultation, January 2004. Back
14
Dunham, R 1993. The Sugar Beet Crop. Ed. D A Cooke &
R K Scott, Chapman & Hall, London. Back
15
Robertson, M J et al. 1997. In : Intensive Sugar Cane
Production. Ed. B A Keating & J R Wilson. CAB International,
Wallingford, UK. Back
16
Tzilivakis, J et al. 2005. Agriculture, Ecosystem and
Environment 107, 341-358. Back
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