SUGAR BEET REVIVAL

Sugar Beet crops have returned to the fields of Fife for the first time since 1971 when Scotland’s only beet factory at Cupar closed in early 1972. However, this crop is not destined for human consumption but as an energy crop to feed anaerobic digesters that help to produce electricity. There has also been a substantial acreage of fodder beet grown successfully for livestock feed since the Eighties.

Investigations are to be carried out into building a new refining plant to process the crop. This is proposed to be on a much smaller scale than before, with Fife and Tayside area again being in the frame as a location for both plant and crop.

Beet factory

If all goes to plan, then there might just be enough older farmers around who could offer advice on the husbandry of the crop. Scottish sugar beet growing began in earnest in 1926 when the new factory at Cupar was opened by the Anglo Scottish Beet Company. Many farmers in Scotland were very experienced in growing root crops such as turnips, swedes, and