- Location
- the brecks norfolk
Yes I've heard the same and I'm pretty sure I put it on here a good few weeks ago.
2019 Beet area
- Thread starter Tipperted
- Start date
- Location
- south norfolk
Yes I heard it too a week or so ago.must just about be the final nail in the coffin.
Nick...
Nick...
But several people have 1 more year to run of a three year deal at £22.50?!
Tractor Boy
Member
- Location
- Suffolk
People still seem to grow beet for sentimental reasons. When the price dropped below £30/t people moaned, and again at £25 and yet people still claimed it was a good paying break crop. I don’t think many people still growing beet have ever factored in soil damage or relaying tracks etc etc.
- Location
- the brecks norfolk
I thought this was the last year of three for 22.50. I know two people who were going to drop beet this year but realised they still had a years contract to run.
Daniel
Member
- Location
- Mildenhall, Suffolk
Are you convinced of these rumours of £17/t or do you think they have been put about so that when they announce a price of £19 we are all pathetically grateful?
- Location
- south norfolk
Even £19 is pretty Shiite
Nick...
Nick...
Daniel
Member
- Location
- Mildenhall, Suffolk
This is true.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
Well OSR at £308, that's about £100 per tonne down on a few years back isn't very exciting either. Flea beetle, slugs and pigeons with all effective and economic controls for those withdrawn, mean I am not growing rape next year. I am not too excited about winter wheat either now cheap septoria control is history. We dry up too early to achieve potential.
It will be grass, beet, turnips and Spring barley here from now on. Had enough of big input spends then held over a barrel on price. I can feed grass, beet, turnips and barley to my own stock if I have to. Good bye high input high risk agriculture.
It will be grass, beet, turnips and Spring barley here from now on. Had enough of big input spends then held over a barrel on price. I can feed grass, beet, turnips and barley to my own stock if I have to. Good bye high input high risk agriculture.
As a WM former Grower, I am well behind prices etc for Beet, but when I saw this particular post, I almost fell off my chair. HTF can you grow beet @£17/t...?
Your reasonings are highly valid, and it'll be bye bye to indigenous sugar I fear. Seems to be quite a bit being grown locally again but headed for Digesters I reckon.
- Location
- the brecks norfolk
Funnily enough I had the same conversation with someone the other day. BS are very cleaver (and ruthless) and I wonder if there marketing department have let slip of a £17 ton price on purpose then in September when contracts come out they'll offer a price of £18 and we'll all sign up saying "well it's better that the price they've been talking about all year"
It'll also give the NFU something to shout about. How they negotiated a better price some £1 ton over what was initially expected to be the 2020 price.
Daniel
Member
- Location
- Mildenhall, Suffolk
£18 isn’t enough either if you have rent to pay though. Might as well bing some spring oats and barley in and grow them cheaply surely?
- Location
- Lincolnshire
I wouldn't be growing it now if we didn't fatten lambs on the tops and feed the surplus to the stock.
You need two bites at any crop nowadays to make it pay, be it grain and straw, roots and tops etc.
You need two bites at any crop nowadays to make it pay, be it grain and straw, roots and tops etc.
- Location
- the brecks norfolk
I quite agree. just look what they did this year. They knew the majority wouldn't grow for under £20 yet there price was £19 something but with there gracious generosity they'll scrap top tare and in real terms the price will be £20 something.
They're pre conditioning us to a crap price so when it is offered it doesn't seem so crap.
We gave beet up after 2013. Probably financially I should have stuck it for one more year, but not really regretted it in principle. Dropping it did leave a bit of a hole in the rotation, as we used it to get a double brake for seed wheat crops, but we have managed. For a company that sells sugar, dealing with them didn’t half leave a bitter taste in the mouth.
Fiveospades
Member
- Location
- Norfolk Broads
Until now it is only rumour and hearsay, I was just testing the water to see if anyone had anything firmer to substantiate the 'rumour'. It would be interesting to hear what a break even price would have to be for forum members, all things considered. At current input costs for this year so far my price would have to be 24-25 per ton based on 85 tons hct. This of course leaves nothing for re-investment and that yield may not be achieved.
- Location
- Essex
Perhaps BS will become an importer/packer/distributor, and sell off the last of those very valuable edge of town sites. The business has been very quietly asset stripped for decades, whilst being operated very efficiently.
As a 2018 3yr grower, I have two more seasons at £22.50 (obvs crown tare to come off that, so £21/t to compare with 1yr deals)
We've been very loyal to BS, having grown for York factory for 20odd years, then Newark for the last 12 seasons. BS don't value loyalty, so it's down to brass, and consistency of performance for me.
When York closed, beet was £19/t iirc, a carrot for growers to pack up most likely.
For me, £20/t - tare has always been a threshold, below which margins here are tiny. Given increased risk post neonics, that threshold will increase by maybe 10%?
Hopefully by the end of my 3yr commitment, I'll have a better idea of future performance.
Being 100miles from the factory doesn't help, unless the haulage rate increases on the back of less aphid pressure than further south.
Beet performs well here, we like it, and performance has continued to increase over the years, but we don't grow it for fun.
There are plenty outlets for beet into AD and livestock round here, BS are not our only option, they'd do well to remember that!
We've been very loyal to BS, having grown for York factory for 20odd years, then Newark for the last 12 seasons. BS don't value loyalty, so it's down to brass, and consistency of performance for me.
When York closed, beet was £19/t iirc, a carrot for growers to pack up most likely.
For me, £20/t - tare has always been a threshold, below which margins here are tiny. Given increased risk post neonics, that threshold will increase by maybe 10%?
Hopefully by the end of my 3yr commitment, I'll have a better idea of future performance.
Being 100miles from the factory doesn't help, unless the haulage rate increases on the back of less aphid pressure than further south.
Beet performs well here, we like it, and performance has continued to increase over the years, but we don't grow it for fun.
There are plenty outlets for beet into AD and livestock round here, BS are not our only option, they'd do well to remember that!