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Agriculture Minister Elisabeth Köstinger mentioned financial compensation for damage caused by poor harvests as a way to help beet growers. Beet growers must be supported with “damaged areas”, said the minister. It will now become clear how this is possible. Finally, there is an EU law that limits the possibilities of subsidies in agriculture.
Köstinger announced that an emergency approval for neonicotinoids would also be requested from the EU in the future. The problem is that EU approval for emergency approval doesn’t come until the end of the year – that is, only after farmers have decided what to plant. Beet growers can only hope the EU agrees again. Pest infestation has increased significantly due to climate change.
Since neonicotinoids are considered harmful to bees, bee monitoring was also started. So far, no negative effects have been found.
Agrana has already offered beet growers multi-year contracts to cushion the risk of price fluctuations. After the abolition of sugar quotas in the EU, the price of sugar fell significantly in 2017. In early 2020, sugar prices rose again. However, due to the Corona crisis, the restaurant industry has failed as a customer. Therefore, there was a new low price in the summer. Marihart promised that multi-year contracts would also be offered in the future.
The desired “political alliance” did not materialize. Burgenland, with a beet growing area of 1,900 hectares, had not sent a representative to the beet summit.
