Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Common Market Organisation Regulation for sugar in ensuring British Sugar negotiates sugar beet contracts with the grower’s mandated representative NFU Sugar.

The Government recognises the importance of sugar beet farmers who are vital to UK sugar production. Also, that sugar beet itself, used in crop rotations, is beneficial to soil and crop health and allows arable farms a season of “rest” from cereal production.

We are committed to promoting fairness across the food supply chain. That includes seeing a price agreed for sugar beet that benefits both growers and processors, in the context of the global market. There is a well-established process in place to agree the sugar beet price; designed to be independent between both parties. An Inter Professional Agreement is agreed each year between both parties and sets out the process for negotiating and agreeing price, terms and conditions for the upcoming crop year, as well as any dispute resolution process.

This process has been effective over many years, and we are committed to this process.