The IFA has called for beet growers to be given 75% of the available EU compensation resulting from the shut down of the sugar industry here.

The association this afternoon published their report from independent consultants, which recommended that farmers should get €106m out of the over €145m compensation package.

Greencore, the sugar industry processor is also expecting to get a significant share of the compensation fund. 

Deloitte Financial Advisers, commissioned by the IFA to assess beet growers’ losses arising from EU sugar reform, have concluded that their total loss amounts to €150 million.

Presenting the findings, IFA President Padraig Walshe  said that there was an incontrovertible case for payment of the EU compensation to the country’s 3,700 growers who will lose their livelihoods. Mr Walshe said “it is now a matter of political will to determine the allocation of the €145m of EU funds available to Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan.”

The Diversification Fund provides compensation of €43.5million, leaving a deficit of over €106 million to be made up by the restructuring fund. He called on Minister Coughlan to remove the pressure and uncertainty on farm families by announcing full compensation immediately. The IFA President said “beet growing has been the most profitable tillage crop and the country’s growers have been devastated, first by the closure of the Carlow factory and secondly by the Brussels decision last November to shut down sugar beet growing in Ireland.”

The Deloitte assessment sets out the impact of the sugar reform decisions on the beet price and on growers’ incomes in Ireland. It demonstrates that sugar beet production will be a loss-making enterprise from 2007/2008 onwards. The precise costings and margins in the Deloitte assessment are set out in response to a request from the Minister of Agriculture to calculate the income loss to growers.

Mr Walshe said he would be meeting the Minister with beet growers’ representatives Thursday morning to present the case and emphasise the need for an immediate decision in order to avoid further stress and trauma of beet growers as they contemplate their future options this Spring.