The major changes announced yesterday in the sugar regime will have a significant effect on Liam Furey, a farmer from near Tuam, Co Galway.
Liam, whose family traditionally supplied beet to the long-closed Tuam beet factory, grows his own crop and harvests 6,000 tonnes of beet in his area for neighbours and contacts.
He employs two men to harvest and transport the beet to Mallow but yesterday he said the future looked grim. "I have also invested in a special €70,000 machine to harvest the beet which cannot be used in other areas and has no real value any more," he said. "That looks like a write-off because I don't think farmers will be able to afford to grow beet if this comes in.
"This will impact on the whole sector because not only did we draw beet down to Cork but carried pulp back to the farmers who also fed the tops.
"I cannot see me keeping staff on if this happens and I will not be able to afford to grow it myself."
He agreed with other farmers that beet was the cornerstone of the Irish tillage industry.
Because it can only be grown once in three years, farmers grow cereals for the other two on the same land and the beet returns subsidise spring barley crops.