4% new companies
Where do all those beet growers come from?
The 4% increase in the number of Dutch sugar beet farms is difficult to explain. Recently published figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) showed an increase of more than 280 companies. Its popularity, however, proves difficult to prove.
At the end of February, the statistical office reported on last year's Dutch sugar beet cultivation. It also reported that the number of growers increased by 2017% in 4, compared to the previous year.
Numbers not recognizable
When asked, Suiker Unie stated that it did not recognize itself in this relatively large increase. Gert Sikken, director of agricultural affairs at Suiker Unie: "Cosun has roughly 9.000 members, of which 7.800 companies actually supply sugar beet. This number includes companies in Belgium and Germany." That is therefore considerably less than the 8.106 that are in the database at Statistics Netherlands.
"The figures available to CBS come from the Combined Statement," explains CBS spokesman Cor Pierik. “Those 8.106 companies have indicated that they will be growing sugar beet on 1 May 2017.” Compared to 2016, this represents an increase of 284 companies. “This growth is relative, if you look at previous years,” says Pierik. there are still almost 2014 beet-growing companies. We are still below that.”
No explanation
Pierik does not have a clear explanation of the numerical difference. "Perhaps it has to do with the fact that, after years with a large harvest, beets have been passed on by Suiker Unie. In their system they were supplied, but they were not actually grown in the year of measurement." This was the case in 2014, Sikken knows. This also explains the decrease in the number of growers; a total of 626 companies. However, this was not the case between 2016 and 2017 and no beets were moved forward.
The difference between the figures from Suiker Unie and the CBS is probably caused by the fact that in 1 partnership sometimes 2 persons submit their Combined Statement separately, but are registered with Suiker Unie as 1 supplying company. According to Sikken, the actual number of new growers is around 10 to a maximum of 20 companies. In addition, there are a few companies in the Netherlands that grow sugar beets for bio-fermentation.
Large growers
What does become clear from the figures is the area growth per company. The number of small growers is decreasing significantly; especially the farmer category with 10 to 30 hectares grew strongly in 2017. There are fewer and fewer companies with 1 to 5 hectares. The 30 hectare plus category is also increasing and amounted to more than 2017 companies in 350 for the first time. In 2014, there were still 237.
Niels van der Boom
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