Increased campaign length for sugar beet
1st March 2024
With wet ground hampering the lifting of sugar beet throughout the 2023/24 campaign, and beet still in the ground, British Sugar has announced new expected end dates for each of its factory sites.
On 6th March British Sugar announced the new dates for each site, extending the deadline for farmers whose beet is still in the ground. See new dates here.
The previous end dates announced were:
- Bury St Edmunds: 11th March
- Wissington: 15th March
- Cantley: 28th March
- Newark: 28th March
British Sugar commented: “As we look towards the end of the 2023/24 sugar beet campaign, we continue to share our sincere thanks with all our growers, contractors, hauliers and partners across the homegrown sugar industry for their hard work over recent months.
“Following the recent wet weather and feedback from growers, we want to provide as much support as possible for growers delivering their crop into their contracted factory. Given the wet conditions, we will be reducing slice rates at our Bury St Edmunds, Cantley and Wissington factories for the next week. This will support increasing the campaign length, to allow growers to deliver to their contracted factory. We will continue to maximise the slice rate at Newark with available beet supply.
“This is a worst-case end date for Bury St Edmunds, which will remain open after 6th March on a day-by-day basis, subject to sufficient beet supply. We are providing this range to give as much transparency as possible and allow growers the ability to plan. Any extension to this date will be communicated to Bury growers via the daily text (SMS) message.
“Once again, we thank all our industry partners for their continued persistence and support in keeping the factories supplied, and encourage growers and hauliers to keep in touch with their British Sugar account manager if they are experiencing any difficulties.
“We wish everyone across the industry all the best for the final weeks of the campaign.”
Read more sugar beet news: https://www.farmersguide.co.uk/arable/sugar-beet/