Since the closure of the Carlow sugar factory, the endgame has been in sight, especially for growers, writes Seán Mac Connell, Agriculture Correspondent.
It was impossible to find anyone in the country last night who would say that there was a long- term future for the sugar beet industry in Ireland following the conclusion of the new sugar deal in Brussels.
There was full agreement, most of it reluctantly given, that the industry was unlikely to survive, even for a further two years, the breathing space negotiated by Minister for Agriculture and Food Mary Coughlan. And it was becoming clear last night that the next two years will be more about dividing the compensation package than ensuring that beet production and processing continues in this country.
That industry is currently worth €140 million to the economy, supports an estimated 5,000 jobs directly and indirectly and is worth about €80 million to the growers.
However, just as the first of the winter storms began, the chill of Irish agriculture having to perform at world prices has arrived.
The most dramatic reform of the EU sugar policy, which has been profitably in place for the last 40 years, has been forced on Europe by a World Trade Panel ruling which said the supports being paid were illegal.
The changes agreed yesterday will see the price farmers are paid for their beet drop by over one-third but they will be compensated at the rate of 64 per cent. The Minister, in an all-night session, negotiated a special €44 million deal for the 3,700 beet farmers if sugar beet production ceases in Ireland. But at that stage she had abandoned any hope of getting a better price and could see the writing on the wall.
With a closedown package of €145 million already in place for Ireland's sole sugar beet processor Greencore, whether or not farmers want to grow beet in the future will be irrelevant if the last beet processing factory in the country closes its doors.
The agreement will also be worrying for the 220 full- and part-time workers in the Mallow plant. Indeed, since the closure of the Carlow sugar factory by Greencore at the beginning of this year, the end game has been in sight, especially for the growers. They were split down the middle on whether to go for a higher base price for sugar from Brussels or to seek as much compensation as possible for the inevitable complete shutdown of the industry here.
Most of those seeking compensation were suppliers to the now closed Carlow factory who were claiming that the cost of production and transporting the beet from the hinterland serviced by Carlow, made it unviable.
That decision now seems to have been made with the emphasis on compensation for both the grower and the processor, Greencore.
During the course of this week's EU negotiations, as a concession to growers, 10 per cent of the compensation which factory owners would receive will have to go to them, contractors and the factory workforce.
In its short statement last night Greencore said that it was its intention to produce sugar and service all of its customers for as "long as it is commercially viable".
It has been complaining that for many reasons other European countries can process sugar much more cheaply, and such a statement will not instil much confidence in the workforce or suppliers.
Outwardly, the Irish Farmers' Association, representing the growers, has been calling yesterday a black day for tillage farmers and it has called the compensation package totally inadequate. IFA president John Dillon said it was was "untenable for Ms Coughlan to hand over the bulk of the compensation to Greencore when she had presided over the wipe-out of the country's 3,700 beet growers".
We are likely to hear more of that in the future because it would appear that the beet growers are not going to be satisfied with the package negotiated for them, especially if the bulk of it goes to Greencore.
Beet production for many years has been the most profitable of tillage crops here and was also very important as a break crop in the tillage cycle.