The beet farmers’ association for Lower Austria and Vienna, which represents around 4,000 of around 5,300 beet farmers across Austria, said on Tuesday morning that the sugar beet would remain “competitive”. But the European Union’s Green Deal is causing concern. Because this provides for significant reductions in the use of fertilizers and pesticides: “It is incomprehensible why Europe is constantly imposing even stricter production standards, which means that some production sectors, such as sugar beet, are endangered,” reads the criticism. Europe’s self-sufficiency in basic foodstuffs is being jeopardized.
“The initiative of the European Commission, which is currently drafting a regulation to ultimately prevent the destruction of the jungle by taking into account and ensuring local sustainability when importing raw materials, is to be seen positively,” says Association President Ernst Karpfinger. However, it is completely incomprehensible that cane sugar is not included in this draft regulation. It is precisely the cane sugar production that is responsible for the destruction of primeval forest areas.
Just a few years ago, after the end of the EU sugar market regime in 2017, beet farmers suffered from a drop in prices and major pest problems, which they got over with the help of politicians and improved purchase agreements from the Agrana Group. The temporarily shaky sugar factory in Leopoldsdorf near Vienna is also secured, at least for the time being. It is one of two Agrana sugar factories in Austria.
Source: Nachrichten
