A procession of tractors and beet trailers made their way through the centre of a Cork town today to highlight the threat to the sugar beet industry.
The three-mile long line of 150 tractors, trailers, beet harvesters and sprayers stretched assembled along the hard shoulder of the Cork-Limerick road outside Mallow and drove in through the town to the Irish Sugar factory six kilometres away.
The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) president John Dillon, who addressed 2,000 protesters outside the factory, said the livelihoods of beet growers were on the line.
"It is a black day for beet growers who are fighting to keep their industry going. Beet is the cornerstone of a profitable tillage sector which is now under threat because of the EU proposals," he said.
Farmers had alerted the factory owners Greencore to the protest and their trailer loads of beet were delivered to the sugar factory after the protest by prior agreement.
In recent years, Europe's sugar regime has come under fierce criticism for distorting sugar prices through excessive EU subsidies. The prices paid for sugar in the continent are more than three times higher than in the rest of the world.
But the IFA claims the European Commission's plan to reduce its sugar quota from 14.6 million tons to 2.8 million tons by 2009 would lead to the end of the sugar beet industry in Ireland.
"The proposal would mean a cut of 47% in beet prices to Irish growers which would collapse growers' incomes by 67%, even after price cut compensation," said sugar beet committee chairman Jim O'Regan.
He said there were around 3,700 sugar beet growers, mostly in Munster and Leinster, but also in parts of Galway, Louth and Ardfert in Kerry, which has some of the highest sugar beet yields in the country.
"The farm families are simply fighting for their survival in this industry. Sugar beet is more than 50% of tillage farmer's income, and it's the sugar beet who pay the bills."
Greencore announced the closure of its Irish Sugar factory in Carlow in January and its 350-worker plant in Mallow is now the only remaining sugar processing plant in the country.
Mr O'Regan said that when the factory and spin-off industries such as agricultural supplies and contracting were taken into account, around 8,000 families in total were facing ruin if the sugar beet industry was wiped out.
Although the Government is supporting the IFA's campaign, there has been no indication from the European Commission that it is willing to compromise on its proposals.
Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan is due to raise the issue at the Farm Council meeting in Brussels next week