Close to 2,500 sugar beet farmers held a protest in Mallow yesterday to warn the EU that they will not allow their livelihoods to be wiped out by massive price cuts.
The rally was held to coincide with EU talks on reforms in the sugar beet industry in Brussels this week, and ahead of a crucial World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong later this year.
Speaking at the rally yesterday Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) president John Dillon warned that if the EU reforms are implemented as currently proposed, the viability of hundreds of Irish sugar beet growers will be disastrously compromised.
Reacting to the proposed EU reforms, which will cut the price of sugar beet by almost 50 per cent, Mr Dillon told farmers at the protest march that it was a "black day for beet growers".
"Beet is the cornerstone of a profitable tillage sector which is now under threat because of EU proposals. Beet production would not be viable at €25 per tonne.
"The farm council meeting next week will be a major test for Minister Mary Coughlan to hold our present beet price.
"We will be demanding that Mary Coughlan negotiate on our behalf in Brussels and that she cannot give an inch on this one."
Mr Dillon warned that if price cuts crippled the livelihoods of beet growers, then full and proper compensation would have to be paid directly to growers rather than Greencore.
"No grower wants to be forced out of beet, but if the EU Commission closes down the industry, there is no way the compensation should go to Greencore.
"Growers have invested in land, quota and machinery and they are not going to be forced out and allow Greencore to walk away with €145 million."
Chairman of the IFA sugar beet committee Jim O'Regan accused the EU Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, of being "hell bent" on selling out European beet growers in the WTO to Brazil and Thailand.
Mr O'Regan called on the Irish Government to stop the "sell out" of an industry worth €75 million annually to growers and their families.
About 100 truckloads of sugar beet plus specialised machinery associated with the crop were driven through Mallow yesterday as part of the protest.
The north Cork town is home to Ireland's only remaining sugar processing plant.
The industry here is still recovering from the shock closure of the Carlow sugar plant earlier this year with the loss of 140 full-time and 110 seasonal jobs.
The EU's sugar regime, which for decades made sugar beet one of the most lucrative tillage crops to grow in Europe, and sugar processing in Europe massively profitable, is being reformed as part of the overall reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.