NFU Sugar Industry Programme Visits Germains
On the 17th November, Germains welcomed this year’s National Farmers Union (NFU) Sugar Industry Programme (SIP) participants to tour our factories and R&D facilities in King’s Lynn.
About the NFU Sugar Industry Programme
The SIP is a training and development programme for individuals starting out on their career in the UK sugar industry, it was started by the NFU and British Sugar in 2010 and has been run annually ever since. The programme is designed to introduce participants to key aspects of the sugar beet sector to support their development.
This year’s programme is running between November 2016 and February 2017 and involves a number of visits, including a sugar beet factory operates, the NFU’s lobby office at Westminster, sugar beet seed production, trials and the latest industry research managed by the BBRO.
The NFU Sugar board chairman William Martin states that:
“The UK beet sugar industry has a bright future. There are challenges ahead, but there are also many opportunities. The Sugar Industry Programme, which will allow participants to explore these opportunities, goes from strength to strength every year. We receive a high level of positive feedback from past participants and I would strongly encourage younger growers to sign up and get involved.”
Germains Seed Technology Hosts Tour for NFU Sugar Industry Programme
Germains had the pleasure of showing the Sugar Industry Programme group how the Germains’ industry-leading sugar beet seed technologies deliver value to the UK growers and the industry as a whole. This included a visit to our factories to follow the journey of the seed through the Priming, Pelleting, and Filmcoating processes before moving onto our Quality centre where all seed has to pass the quality specifications before being moved onto the part of the seed process journey. The visitors also gained a unique insight into our Research and Development facility, demonstrating Germains’ commitment to driving higher yields for UK growers through its continuous development of innovative new sugar beet seed treatments for the UK market.
This year’s SIP group at Germains, King’s Lynn
Bethan Williams ( NFU Sugar Advisor), responsible for coordinating this year’s SIP group, said:
“The Sugar Industry Programme (SIP) provides an opportunity for the next generation of sugar producers and industry professionals to learn and engage with the key components of the Sugar Beet supply chain. Visiting Germains Seed Technology is integral to understanding UK beet production and the tour is hugely valuable to the SIP programme. Germains is a valued asset for UK sugar production so allowing this transparency of factory visits enables the participants to learn what Germains do and the steps they take in supporting UK growers to produce the best Sugar Beet crop they can.”
We would like to thank the SIP group for visiting us and look forward to welcoming groups in the future. For more information on Germains’ sugar beet technologies, please click here.