British Sugar has confirmed a record beet yield for the 2017/18 campaign, at 83.4 tonnes per hectare.
A combination of near-perfect growing conditions, combined with continual variety improvements driven through the work of the British Beet Research Association (BBRO), pushed the yield beyond the previous record of 79.8 tonnes per hectare.
The final calculations show 8.9m tonnes of beet, from a total growing area of over 105,000 hectares, were processed into 1.38m tonnes of sugar at British Sugar's four factories – at Cantley and Wissington in Norfolk, Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, and Newark in Nottinghamshire.
READ MORE: Farmers' record beet yield brings challenges for sugar factoriesManaging director Paul Kenward said: 'This has been a long and challenging campaign for our growers, our supply chain and our four factories. I am hugely proud of the record yields we've seen from our homegrown sugar beet and we continue to be one of the most efficient sugar industries in the world.'
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