The UK sugar beet harvest has started this week, a fortnight earlier than usual; the four sugar beet factories opened yesterday (Wednesday 14th September) and early indications point to a large crop in 2011. image expired

Plants in Norfolk, Suffolk and Nottinghamshire all opened early to avoid crops being spoiled by frozen ground, which was a problem in last year's harvest. Test digs in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire yielding 18-20 per cent sugar have been relatively common.

British sugar said recent wet weather has made the ground in most parts ideal for harvesting, although some areas could do with more moisture to facilitate harvesting of early lifted crops. Sharon Fisher, a spokesperson for British Sugar, said, "This year's harvesting conditions are favourable following recent rainfall. As long as the crop has made reasonable growth progress during the season and harvesting conditions are favourable, a mid-September start date is appropriate for both the grower and processor."

Meanwhile workers at British sugar factories are set to vote next week on whether to strike over pay. Members of the union Unite at British Sugar plants in Great Yarmouth, King's Lynn, Bury St Edmunds and Newark in Nottinghamshire, will decide whether to take strike action or industrial action short of a strike, although members of the GMB union had accepted the new pay offer.

The Unite workers have rejected a 3.5 per cent pay increase, demanding an increase in line with inflation, which is currently at 5.2 per cent. Mick Doherty, a regional spokesperson for Unite said, "Our members are being hit very hard by the soaring cost of living. British Sugar is a very profitable company, and despite its complaints that the sugar beet crop was hit by last winter’s bad weather, it is well able to afford a decent pay rise."

British Sugar said it had undertaken "all necessary steps to mitigate disruption" at its four plants. The company said it is still too early to comment on how this year's harvest will compare to 2010, but said growers' feedback on crop prospects was "encouraging".