JOHN Middleton grew up knowing sugar beet as a "break crop" in the cycle of cereal growing, but it has become the backbone of his operation. He also grows wheat and barley but their worth goes up and down too much for comfort. Rape would be an obvious alternative, but beet is steady and he has committed to it.
Sugar used to be an exotic luxury, coming only from honey or sugar-cane. But in 1748, a German scientist found a way of extracting it from beets grown for animal food and sugar became a household staple but its cost was a great economic concern. Brit
ish Sugar is the inheritor of a formerly state-run industry and a brand name – Silver Spoon – which supporters of the British farmer will insist on. The first British factory was built at Cantley, Norfolk, in 1912, and is one of four still operating, out of 27.
Last year, when British Sugar closed its York factory, dating back to 1926, it was one of the last to close following Brigg, near Scunthorpe, and Selby, leaving Newark the nearest for anyone in this region.
For a lot of suppliers north of the M62 it was the last straw, but since then others have been calling to see if they can get in. And the calls are welcome.
The British Sugar complex now includes a bioethanol plant at Wissington, Norfolk, making a petrol substitute which contributes a small but growing contribution to the mix sold at the pumps. It opened a year ago and another is planned at Hull.
Every farmer has a quota but for the time being, British Sugar will take all the beet it can get at the quota price. In the past, surpluses have been sold for fodder, and that is still an option when the price is right.
John Middleton grew up on Danum Farm at Melton Brand, west of Doncaster, where his father bought out a 90-acre tenancy in 1967. The business was based mainly on pigs when he left school at 17 and started working on the farm full-time.
His parents died some years ago and last year he lost his wife and he now runs more than 400 acres – 300 owned and more than 100 rented – with son Tom, 18.
He has been putting more and more time and money into sugar supply since the 1970s, because, he says: "You know, what you are going to get, within about £1 per tonne, before you sow.
"You can store it outside as long as you want and it doesn't need heating or drying, it's either in the land, in the clamp or in the factory, and it suits limestone land like mine – although silts are better."
He signs a British Sugar contract in August/September each year, which fixes his price for deliveries from the following September/October. This year, September 17 was the date the Newark factory fired up for 24/7 operation for six months, fed by 1,200 farmers.
The actual price varies a bit according to sugar content and any above-average weight of mud and crowns.
Sugar content is a bit down this year, because of lack of sun, so 30 tonnes will probably earn the standard fee for 28.
Last year, it was worse, because of the floods. But at least the crop survived being underwater. It is vulnerable to fungus and Mr Middleton sprays against those and against weeds in the spring, and nobody has yet said anything to him about whether he might be affected by pesticide controls the European Parliament is trying to push through, against opposition from agribusiness and Defra. Without the chemicals, he fears, the game would be up.
He and his son manage almost everything themselves, with the help of an independent agronomist for advice on seeds and sprays, and a fleet of machinery including four tractors.
He has bought a self-propelled six-row beet harvester, with a 17-tonne tank, listed at £300,000 – although he hints that is not what he paid. He expects it to last five years. To pay for it, he lifts beet as far afield as Goole.
Half the job, it seems, is doing sums – when to go contracting and when to look after his own land, when to lift the beet and sow something else, when to store and when to sell. British Sugar pays a bonus for deliveries after Christmas, to keep the factories going to the end of what is still called, in quaintly Soviet style, "the campaign".
Mr Middleton usually lifts his last beet in January but ekes his deliveries out until March. He will probably have the harvester out seven days a week for 12 weeks, on his own farm or somebody else's.
He has beet in about 110 acres at a time. His best crop last year was 33 tonnes an acre, from a new field although the average was 29 while the worst was 25.
He says that about covers the range – "25 is easy and 30 should be achievable".
At British Sugar's Newark centre agriculture manager David Dunning explained how the deal is worked out.
"The interim price for this year is £23.04 a tonne, but with the final price always determined by the exchange rate with the euro, the final price could be £23.50. Also paid is a transport allowance covering up to 50 miles. For 2009/10, the price will rise to £26 a tonne plus an additional £1, on average, on the transport allowance, to take account of rising fuel costs."
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