News in brief:
– British Sugar and the farmers’ union are set to resume talks after a disagreement over 2024 beet contracts.
– The processor also agreed to a temporary pause contracting and seed ordering.
Following a bitter stand-off over 2024’s beet contracts, British Sugar and the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) have agreed to resume talks in an effort to reach a resolution.
The recent dispute arose when British Sugar made a unilateral price offer to beet growers, bypassing the established negotiation process with the NFU Sugar board.
The NFU Sugar board rejected the unilateral offer, deeming it unfair and outside the established negotiation process. They maintained that the price offer should reflect the current high world sugar prices and demanded a fairer pricing structure.
In response to the NFU’s stance, British Sugar has agreed to temporarily pause beet contracting and seed ordering for the 2024/25 beet contract to allow for renewed negotiations.
The company’s agriculture director Daniel Green stated that the pause aims to facilitate negotiations with NFU Sugar and reach an agreement on prices and terms for next year’s contract.
Talks resumed after calls for government intervention under the 1984 Food Act. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) urged both parties to resume negotiations and find a mutually acceptable outcome on a fair price for the 2024-25 season.
With negotiations set to recommence this week, both parties expressed hope for a swift resolution to the dispute.
