Cambridgeshire farmer, Jamie Stokes manages his family's 1,000 hectare arable farm for his 96 year old grandfather. Years of succession planning had set a route for a fairly painless transition down two generations in one step. However, now if his grandfather survives until April 2026, at least 200 hectares of the farm must be sold to pay the tax bill, he says. And having just adjusted the business to survive the loss of subsidies, the maths on losing a fifth of the farm's land poses another major challenge.
Michael Sly, NFU Sugar board chair, said he was pleased they had come to a 'timely agreement'
The 2023/24 sugar beet campaign was completed on April 19
Heavy rainfall has disrupted seedbeds which could potentially stall sugar beet
Event launched to showcase possibilities of sugar beet production
Defra has given ‘clear direction’ negotiations should resume after British Sugar offers growers contract despite no agreement with NFU Sugar
The union has written to the Farming Minister asking him to exercise powers available to set the sugar supply price after negotiations broke down and British Sugar communicated its contract offer to growers without agreement
NFU Sugar and British Sugar have so far failed to reach agreement on the 2024/25 contract
NFU Sugar says the offer from British Sugar is inadequate
With most sugar beet generally looking good after recovering from late drilling and a slow start, BBRO’s Beetfield demo day highlighted ways to maximise crop potential. Martin Rickatson reports.