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Countryfile S38E10
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FunTranscript
00:01Most of the other crops on here failed but the sugar beet grows all right.
00:06Thank you very much, it's all I've ever wanted.
00:39Do you have a sweet tooth, Vic? Actually, do you like mud?
00:42You know what Charlotte, I'm partial to a bit of both, I think we're in the right place.
00:46We are here in the east of England as British sugar celebrates a hundred years of production.
00:52And we're joining the sugar beet campaign.
00:54It's one of the UK's rare winter harvest crops and one that's facing threats from several directions.
00:59So we've come to see why sugar beet still matters.
01:07The heartland of UK sugar beet production is the east of England
01:11across the flat landscapes of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire.
01:20Sugar beet has been grown here for more than a hundred years
01:24from small-scale farms in the early 1900s
01:29to the vast fields and factories of today.
01:33It's a slit procedure, it's choreography.
01:36It is, yeah. It's all coming together.
01:37It's quite mesmerising to watch.
01:39It is, yeah.
01:42So this is what the sugar beet looks like once it's been sliced.
01:45So it's cut up really small, isn't it? It is.
01:48So it looks like a french fry.
01:50But not everything in our fields is so sweet.
01:55Tom investigates what's in the sewage spread as fertiliser.
01:59It's what could be in this water that is of concern.
02:02What we know is that chemical pollution is reaching our rivers from agricultural lands that it's put on.
02:14Sugar beet is a crop that supports more than a £2 billion industry.
02:20It creates thousands of jobs and sweetens the nation's taste buds.
02:26And it all starts with the hard work that happens here, out in the fields.
02:33The harvest, known as the campaign, is the industry's busiest season.
02:38It's a race to bring in the last of a crop that is notoriously hard to lift in the winter
02:43weather.
02:43And with just days before the factories close their gates for the season, it's all hands on deck to bring
02:49the beet in.
02:53But it's not looking good.
02:57As recent downpours could halt today's harvest.
03:02While they wait for a decision, contractor Joe Lawson and his team get on with the job.
03:09Clearing beet from this farm's yard in Norfolk.
03:15Joe, we're stood in front of the most enormous pile of beet.
03:18What's happening behind us?
03:20So we've got the loader loading the sugar beet into the cleaner.
03:25The cleaner then cleans all the beet off, goes into the lorry.
03:29Then it's off to Bury Beet Factory to be processed.
03:31Bury Factory's closing today, so there's a bit of a time crunch.
03:35When there's still beet in the ground.
03:37There's still beet in the field, yeah.
03:38Luckily this is some of the last of the beet that we've got to do.
03:44The campaign runs for around six months of the year, before the factories that process the crop close for cleaning
03:51and maintenance.
03:53So it's a race against the clock to bring in the last of the crop and get it processed in
03:59time.
03:59In the time that I've been standing here, I've seen several lorries already come and go.
04:05It's a slip procedure.
04:06It's choreography.
04:07It is, yeah.
04:08It's all coming together.
04:09It's quite mesmerising to watch.
04:12It's efficient.
04:13It's very efficient.
04:14It's very efficient, yeah.
04:15Very efficient.
04:16And I like watching the speed at which he goes at that.
04:19Yeah.
04:20Yeah, it's brilliant, isn't it?
04:21How long would you say it takes to harvest the entire field, like all the land that you're looking after?
04:28Oh, it's hard to say.
04:29I mean, as I say, we start roughly September and we're still going here in February, so it's a fair
04:36process.
04:36And is that day in, day out?
04:37Yeah, it's day in, day out. As long as the weather allows it, we'll be going.
04:41How's this season fared in comparison to recent years?
04:44There's never been a perfect year.
04:46To be honest, we're always constantly battling the weather, especially later on in the year.
04:50The start of the season wasn't too bad, but I think now we're getting a bit later on, we're really
04:55starting to struggle.
05:00Joe doesn't just work as a contractor for other farmers.
05:04His family have grown sugar beet in the area for three generations.
05:10His mum, Alison, runs the contracting business while managing the family farm.
05:16As a member of the NFU Sugar Board, she knows how tough a beet harvest can be.
05:23If the ground's too wet, it can't be lifted.
05:27The forecast is going to stop raining.
05:32The problem we have, though, is when it's damp like this, the ground doesn't dry out.
05:39When the weather allows, sugar beet is harvested by these mammoth machines, capable of covering around 30 acres in a
05:47day without stopping.
05:49While a second vehicle ferries the beet away in batches of 15 tonnes at a time.
05:57Alison and her team will decide if today's harvest can go ahead.
06:02With a field ready to be lifted and a quota to supply 7,000 tonnes, it's a tough decision.
06:10Alison, you don't have much time left.
06:12There are still beets in the ground.
06:14For sure.
06:15So what happens?
06:16Well, very sadly, it is just too wet to lift the beet.
06:20But you're seeing reality, you're seeing what it's like growing sugar beet.
06:25Yeah.
06:25The weather just has not played ball with us today and there's nothing we can do.
06:32These specialist harvesters cost around half a million pounds.
06:38After days of heavy rain, the fields are thick with mud and there's a real risk of damaging the machine,
06:46the soil and the crop.
06:49Will you be able to get all of the beet out of the ground in time?
06:54Not necessarily, because now what's happened is these beets, we've actually hit quota.
07:00So once you've hit quota, the price comes down very significantly.
07:04It's £5 a tonne.
07:06So actually, the people who are paying us here today to lift their beet, it's hardly worth them lifting their
07:13sugar beet.
07:13So it's, yeah, it's a difficult one. So they could well go for animal feed.
07:23Quotas guarantee an agreed price for a set tonnage of beet.
07:28Negotiated with British Sugar, the sole owner and operator of the four UK factories where the crop can be processed
07:35into sugar.
07:36So growers have no other choice but to sell to this buyer.
07:42But beet farmers band together to lobby for fair prices and a transparent industry.
07:48How much of a challenge is this? How much of a problem is this?
07:52Growing sugar beet is becoming harder and harder.
07:55We've got a changing climate, we've got a volatile world market, so the price is low.
08:01We also have new pests and diseases coming through and you put it all together and it's making profitability very,
08:11very hard now.
08:13I'm passionate about homegrown food and homegrown sugar.
08:16And I think, you know, I do everything I can to sustain that and keep doing that.
08:21But it has to be profitable. We can't do it if it's not profitable.
08:25We should be able to produce our own food and not have to rely on imports.
08:39How does, let's face it, one of the least glamorous crops in the field become one of the most recognisable
08:47ingredients in our homes?
08:50Just 30 miles from Vic, set among the beet fields of Norfolk, is Whissington Sugar Factory.
08:59Spanning more than 100 acres, it's the largest sugar beet processing plant in Europe.
09:08The sheer size of this place is insane. It runs pretty much 24-7 and at its peak, a thousand
09:17lorries a day will be dropping off beet.
09:20It even has its own power station to make sure the beet never stops.
09:28Around three million tonnes of raw beet are dumped at Whissington's doorstep every year.
09:38And overseeing operations is Site General Manager, Elliot Fisher.
09:44How much beet am I looking at here?
09:47Well, Charlotte, we measured this this morning at around about five o'clock.
09:50There was just over 10,000 tonnes on this pad.
09:52But we're midway through the week and we'll keep filling that through to Saturday.
09:56So how long will this last you?
09:58Well, the pad at its maximum can hold around about 55 or so thousand tonnes of beet.
10:03This factory will slice about 19,000 tonnes a day.
10:07So, about two and a half days-ish when it's absolutely full.
10:10How long can you just keep beet on the pad then?
10:13Could you leave it here for a month or not?
10:14You could, but it wouldn't be good news.
10:16So, it's a natural crop.
10:18As soon as you take that out of the ground, that is degrading.
10:21Yeah, it's like any vegetable.
10:22So, we want to get it from the farm into the factory to be sliced and processed as quick as
10:27we can.
10:27So, the team will rotate this beet so the oldest beet comes in first.
10:32Right. And this is why you have a knife?
10:34Yeah, this is why we have a knife, so we can come and take a sample.
10:37We'll be looking for things like frost damage and things like that.
10:40That's a lovely bit of fresh beet there. No damage on that. Fantastic.
10:46Since it opened 100 years ago, Whissington has transformed in scale.
10:51In its early years, 600 tonnes of beet was a day's work.
10:55Today, the factory gets through that much every single hour.
11:01So, there, let's just take a sample.
11:02So, this is what the sugar beet looks like once it's been sliced.
11:05So, it's cut up really small, isn't it? It is, it is.
11:08And if I just pick a really good one like this one,
11:10you can see there's a V-shaped profile to that cut.
11:14Oh, I see. I'll let you take a look at that.
11:16So, it looks like a french fry, but actually it's a french fry with sort of a furrow right the
11:20way through it.
11:21Absolutely. And there's a reason for that.
11:22Right.
11:23So, that will give us increased surface area.
11:25That means we need to put less water into the operation to remove the sugars from actually sugar beet.
11:30Because it's more open.
11:31Absolutely. The less water we put in, the more energy efficient it makes us,
11:35because any water put into the operation has to be evaporated off at some point.
11:39This is a really water hungry and energy hungry process, isn't it?
11:42Indeed.
11:43From here, the sliced beet disappears into the diffusion tanks.
11:48Huge rotating drums that feel more sci-fi than sugar production.
11:52Wow.
11:53So, in this large drum, you have close sugar beet going one end,
11:56you have hot water going the other end.
11:58They pass each other in opposite directions.
12:00And this is, in here, is where diffusion is happening.
12:03So, that sugar is coming out of the sugar beet and then into the water.
12:06So, we end up with what we call a raw juice.
12:08And the raw juice, the next stage of that, will be purification on the way to making white crystal sugar.
12:16The fundamentals of sugar extraction haven't changed much in a century.
12:21But health and safety certainly has.
12:23Open collars are out.
12:25Lab coats and PPE are in.
12:29And it's at the purification stage that chemical engineers like Steven Grenard take the reins.
12:37Oh, Steven.
12:40I've got to be honest, that was not what I was expecting at all.
12:43It looks horrible.
12:44Why is it all muddy?
12:45It's this muddy colour because we've added calcium hydroxide, which is the milk of lime.
12:49And what we're doing is we're removing all the sugar impurities from the process.
12:53So, what the milk of lime does then is it sort of extracts all the bits you don't want.
12:58Absolutely.
12:59And what you're left with is that nice, clean, clear sugar.
13:01So, you can see it's starting to settle out now.
13:05Oh, yes, it's getting clearer at the top.
13:08That will end up looking something like this, which is a nice, clear juice ready to go forward to evaporation.
13:15If school chemistry taught me anything, it's that evaporation means heat.
13:20Though I don't remember it mentioning a lot of noise.
13:25This is so hot up here.
13:27It is very warm.
13:28And so loud.
13:29So, here we're starting to crystallise the sugar in these vacuum pans.
13:33Oh, in here?
13:33Yes.
13:34So, you can see in this one it's still liquid.
13:37Absolutely.
13:38So, that's the sugar just boiling up at the minute under vacuum.
13:45Oh, it's so much nicer in the air-conditioned office.
13:50So, we were at purification, we've gone through evaporation and now we're at crystallisation.
13:55We're left with something called standard liquor.
13:57So, what we call the mother liquor becomes really super saturated with the syrup
14:02and it wants to come out of solution and start to layer on top of the crystal.
14:05So, what we do is we add a very fine seed in.
14:07The seed is just bits of sugar, is it?
14:10Absolutely.
14:10It's very finely milled sugar.
14:12And then we allow that mother liquor to start to layer the sucrose crystal on top.
14:16So, it then creates sugar around that sugar.
14:19Yes, and starts to grow a crystal that you can see up here.
14:21And this is amazing.
14:22How different would it have been back in the day then if we'd have been on this floor?
14:26Oh, massively different.
14:27We'd have several operators on here.
14:29They wouldn't be wearing what we're wearing today.
14:31They'd be stripped down to their vests or even topless because it was so hot out there.
14:35And everything was manumatic.
14:36So, no control valves, no automation.
14:38A real artisan skill.
14:40So, using sight, sound, experience.
14:42And competition between the shifts as well because they wanted to get the fastest pan
14:45or the best crystal growth rate and the best production.
14:49But actually, those artisans are now the sugar pan experts and, of course, the control engineers
14:53that are able to build and model the vacuum pans.
14:56So, we get more consistent profiles each and every time.
14:59And that allows us to get a very consistent sugar crystal size.
15:03So, it's not varied at all.
15:05It's very consistent through the process.
15:06And that's what you want?
15:07You want every batch to be the same?
15:09Absolutely.
15:09Yes.
15:09When you pick up that teaspoon of sugar for your tea or coffee,
15:12you want the granules to be very uniform and that's what we do.
15:16As the crystals form, the process reaches its final transformation.
15:21This is industrial alchemy in action.
15:26From an unlikely route to something instantly recognisable.
15:32So, finally, Elliot, we actually are seeing sugar.
15:35Yeah, we are.
15:36So, this is a packaging plant and we do only industrial sugars.
15:40So, that will be 25 kg bags will be our smallest, which will be on a tonne pallet.
15:46And we do large one tonne bags for all for industrial customers.
15:50So, that's going into food factories and places like that?
15:52Food and drinks manufacturers, yeah, pretty much across the UK.
15:55What's really weird is that you start off with this ugly agricultural thing.
16:00That's why I tell people.
16:02And then suddenly we go through this process and here we are with refined sugar.
16:06It is like multiple businesses on one side.
16:09And amazing that it all comes from that one thing.
16:11Yeah, what an ugly beet.
16:13Yeah.
16:13I shouldn't say that.
16:14That amazing vegetable.
16:15That amazing looking sugar beet.
16:17That's it.
16:30The success of the UK sugar industry lies not just on the farms and in factories,
16:36but with the help of scientists in the lab.
16:41Growing and harvesting sugar beet has plenty of challenges,
16:45from wet and dry weather to pests and diseases.
16:49But help is on hand from the British Beet Research Organisation,
16:53a team of scientists working to come up with solutions led by Professor Mark Stevens.
17:00The British Beet Research Organisation is a small organisation of 18 people
17:07and we undertake applied research and development
17:10to make sure we produce a healthy and profitable crop
17:13for the sugar beet growers here in the UK.
17:16We also then will monitor things as well,
17:19whether there's new pests coming into the crop
17:21or new systems we're looking at and researching.
17:23What's really, really important with the work we undertake
17:26is making sure it gets back onto farm to make that difference.
17:30If we're not doing that, then there's no point in doing the science.
17:34One of the ways the team helps sugar beet growers
17:36is through a free plant clinic service
17:39where farmers can send in crop samples for testing if they spot a problem.
17:44The plant clinic is a fascinating part of the work that we undertake
17:48because you never quite know what the next sample's going to be.
17:52But once you get it into the lab, you can often probably see the primary issue
17:56but then you never quite know what else you'll see.
17:59So you can probably see other pests and diseases,
18:01which is really important to be able to identify those as well
18:05because what we may spot on at one leaf today
18:08may be our future research projects of tomorrow.
18:11In 2020, the plant clinic proved vital
18:15when a new threat arose that had never been seen before in the UK.
18:20Beet moth.
18:21So this sample has come in recently
18:24which we know was affected by beet moth earlier in the season
18:29and the caterpillars, what they've been doing is feeding in the actual plant.
18:35You can see that we get some of this browning effect
18:37and often get like a hollow area within the crown
18:40which is ultimately reducing the growth and size of that root later into the season.
18:46But in order to defeat the beet moth, first you must get to know your enemy.
18:51And to do that, Mark has set up a beet moth breeding cage.
18:55You can see one or two flying around the plants.
18:58What they're doing is landing on the plants
19:01and into the heart leaves or into the centre of the sugar beet
19:05where they will mate and lay eggs.
19:08And what you can see on these, who have probably been in a couple of weeks now,
19:11is the early stage damage of the larva within the plant.
19:15You're getting this blackening of the leaves.
19:18They're actually stopping the plant producing new leaves.
19:21The plant next to it is actually dead
19:23and there's a caterpillar crawling
19:26and that's what's causing the damage rather than the moth itself.
19:29It's the caterpillars that go into the plant that cause the problem.
19:33If you look further back into the cage in samples that we've been using,
19:38this can be the consequence of what beet moth can do to a sugar beet.
19:42And it's really, really important we find the tools
19:44and the ability to solve the problem and monitor its build-up in the UK.
19:49Because it may be sporadic at the moment
19:51but what we don't know is what it's going to do in the future.
19:54The data is fed back to growers,
19:58helping them produce a healthy, profitable crop
20:00and stay ahead of pests and disease.
20:07For Mark's colleagues, Dr Georgina Barrett and Eleanor Towler,
20:12their research takes them out of the lab and into the field.
20:16Cool, you've got everything set for that.
20:19If you put the tray down, get the gas met sorted.
20:22As they investigate the environmental impact a sugar beet harvest has on emissions.
20:27We have got an infrared gas analyser here.
20:31These were actually originally developed for measuring emissions from chimneys in factories.
20:35They measure CO2, nitrous oxide and methane.
20:38Right now today, we're interested in CO2 emissions.
20:42Soil's full of living microbes, full of a whole host of different living things
20:45and they respire, they breathe and they release CO2.
20:49Sugar beet is a root crop.
20:50When we come in with a harvester, the harvester pulls that sugar beet,
20:54it lifts it up and out the ground.
20:55So it actually disturbs the soil quite a lot.
20:58So we want to understand what impact that is having.
21:00So through taking these greenhouse gas measurements,
21:03we can understand good, bad practice, areas for improvement,
21:06lots of different questions that we can answer through coming in and taking these sorts of measurements.
21:10That's eight minutes.
21:11Oh, perfect.
21:12Should we have a look at how we're doing?
21:13So we're looking pretty standard on our carbon dioxide measurements,
21:18but actually nitrous oxide is quite interesting as well.
21:20So whether it's because the harvest has come in, compacted the soil a little bit,
21:24and we've got a bit more anaerobic activity driving nitrous oxide emissions.
21:28Me and Eleanor are here today taking very localised measurements,
21:31but we're interested in field scale stuff.
21:33So how do we capture that?
21:34This is where we then work with the flux tower system.
21:37The flux towers measure CO2, similar system to this,
21:41but in a big radius, about 200 metres radius,
21:44and they're measuring all the time.
21:46And what's really exciting is that we don't look at any one crop in isolation.
21:49It's really important that we understand the impact that a sugar beet crop has on the following wheat crop
21:54and that it has throughout the rotation,
21:55because we can't look at things individually.
21:57We have to look at the whole farming system and the resilience within the rotation.
22:02We're always considering sustainability,
22:03and ultimately the baseline is having a healthy crop.
22:07Having a healthy crop that yields well is sustainable.
22:09Anything we can do to bolster crop health and improve in those areas as well
22:13will help drive that sustainability forward
22:15and make sure that we can keep producing homegrown sugar long into the future.
22:27Every year, millions of tonnes of sewage sludge are spread onto our fields as fertiliser.
22:34But with growing concerns about what it contains,
22:37the government's launched a consultation on how it's used.
22:42Tom investigates.
22:52Sewage sludge or biosolids have been widely used as a fertiliser since World War II.
22:59It is made up of, yes, our poo, what goes down our toilets and our sinks,
23:04as well as what comes from businesses and some industries.
23:07And it's all processed by the water companies.
23:15After the liquid has been removed, this is what's left.
23:19A solid waste product rich in organic matter and nutrients.
23:22Each year, around 3.5 million tonnes of it are spread on British farmland.
23:28It's cheap and effective when it comes to helping grow crops,
23:31but there are concerns that the rules governing its use
23:35were never designed to deal with some of the modern contaminants
23:38making their way into our sewage.
23:42But that could all be about to change.
23:45The government is consulting on the sewage sludge rules in England,
23:49which haven't been updated for more than 30 years.
23:56And that consultation is part of a tide of reform sweeping across the UK,
24:01with Scotland introducing stricter regulations a few months ago
24:05and Wales also looking to tighten its rules.
24:07For some farmers, additional restrictions on the use of sewage sludge
24:12would be a concern.
24:13Will Oliver is a fourth generation poultry and arable farmer in Leicestershire.
24:18My dad's used manure all his farming life, my grandad did,
24:22and they did even before that going back hundreds of years.
24:25This is an organic manure, an organic fertiliser
24:28that really helps us put nutrients back in the ground,
24:31helps lock carbon, and it's just a really good product
24:35to help us grow crops in a sustainable way.
24:38If I can't use this, if it's a barrier to entry,
24:41then it's compromising how I can perform as a farmer.
24:45The old alternative to me using this sewage sludge
24:49is buying in artificial or imported fertiliser in a bag,
24:53but it's expensive, it's bad for our carbon footprint,
24:56and this is here available for us to use.
25:00Sewage sludge can be free, or as little as a pound per tonne,
25:05whereas costs for artificial fertiliser
25:07can run into a few hundred pounds per tonne.
25:11If I have to suddenly go and spend ten, twenty, thirty thousand
25:15on bagged, inorganic, artificial fertiliser,
25:18then we'll be struggling to make any money from the job.
25:23The government's consultation didn't come out of the blue.
25:26Even though sewage sludge is only used on a small percentage
25:29of our overall farmland,
25:31concerns have been growing over its use for years.
25:35When the current rules were drawn up in the 1980s,
25:38terms like microplastics and forever chemicals,
25:41also known as PFAS,
25:43weren't part of our vocabulary, let alone the regulations.
25:46Nearly a decade ago, an Environment Agency report
25:50warned that sludge can contain substances,
25:53from pharmaceuticals to industrial pollutants like asbestos,
25:56which can potentially make soils unsuitable for agriculture.
26:01And yet now we're hearing that there is potentially danger
26:05in this stuff in terms of pollutants.
26:08What do you think?
26:09Before this treated sludge comes to farm, it's tested.
26:11It's tested more than a lot of other products that we use.
26:15We've got to trust the system.
26:16The water companies are doing things at their end.
26:18They're testing rigorously.
26:21The regulations currently say that water companies
26:24must test sewage sludge for a list of chemicals,
26:26including heavy metals like mercury and lead,
26:29before supplying it to farmers.
26:31But Countryfile asked the water companies
26:33what else they tested for.
26:35Those that replied told us they also checked
26:38for E. coli and Salmonella.
26:40Only one said they routinely tested for forever chemicals,
26:43and none told us they tested for microplastics.
26:47So, while older pollutants are checked,
26:49many of the newer contaminants raising concerns are not.
26:53These also include banned pesticides, antibiotics and asbestos.
26:58The industry points to its Chemicals Investigation Programme,
27:02research it says is already exploring emerging contaminants.
27:07For some farmers, like Suffolk arable farmer Glen Buckingham,
27:11that uncertainty is becoming harder to ignore.
27:16We started using sludge around 25, 30 years ago.
27:19Last year we didn't actually take any.
27:21We need to think that the product is now something quite different
27:24when there is a lot more news around forever chemicals
27:27and microplastics and pharmaceuticals.
27:30So Glen feels the government's sewage sludge review is the right move.
27:35What we need to ensure for farmers is that the regulation exists
27:38to prevent the problem getting as far as the fall.
27:44While the government considers tightening the rules,
27:47scientists are digging into what lies at the bottom of the sludge.
27:51Well, over 300,000 samples.
27:55My goodness me.
27:57It fertilises all kinds of environmental samples in here.
28:02And for sewage sludge, this is the oldest sample we've got here.
28:05It's from 1942.
28:08Wow.
28:10I'm tempted to do that very trite thing, which is, it just smells of cardboard, obviously.
28:16Yes, you took a chance there.
28:21Professor Steve McGrath is from Rothenstead Research,
28:24an agricultural science centre in Hertfordshire,
28:27home to the world's largest collection of sewage sludge.
28:31He's been studying it for more than 30 years.
28:34Right, so shall I grab one of these?
28:35We'll take one each, Tom.
28:36Yeah, yeah.
28:37They're bigger than I thought.
28:38They're heavy.
28:44OK, so this is the lab, Tom.
28:47Pull in.
28:48What we've got here is the sludges which were applied in the fields about ten years ago.
28:55Right.
28:55And they've been stored in the archive,
28:58but we can bring them out and see what's changing over time in the sludge.
29:02What have you discovered?
29:03What kind of contaminants are in the sludge?
29:05Going back away, the original concerns were with heavy metals.
29:09We're finding organic contaminants as well.
29:13So these are what we call persistent organic pollutants.
29:16Things like PAHs and PCBs and dioxins.
29:20How do these contaminants end up in the sewage sludge?
29:23Well, they're contaminants used in all of society, really.
29:26So, you know, you're talking about industry
29:28and there are various wastes that go into the air or in the water.
29:32And they get washed off and they go down to the sewage work to be treated.
29:36And if it's pharmaceutical drugs, they've come through us.
29:39All the chemicals that people take, like pharmaceuticals and drugs,
29:43personal care products, they all end up in this material.
29:47How concerned should we be about spreading sewage sludge on food crop fields today?
29:52I think we should be concerned because, as I say,
29:55it's been rather ignored for at least the last, say, 20 or 30 years.
30:00So I think it is time to review all of that.
30:04But Steve believes caution is needed in making changes around the use of sludge.
30:09This is a societal waste. What do we do with it?
30:13Do we get benefits from the nutrients in it and the carbon in it?
30:17Or do we throw it away?
30:19Yeah.
30:19And throwing it away is difficult.
30:21You know, landfill or incineration.
30:23There are other problems related with those courses of action.
30:28But some are calling for more urgent change.
30:32Amy Fairman is from the water quality campaign group River Action.
30:38This is the river Tame.
30:41So for you, it's what could be in this water that is of concern.
30:45What we know is that that chemical pollution is reaching our rivers through slow and chronic release from agricultural lands
30:54that it's put on.
30:54So what happens is those chemicals build up in the water and the soil and then insects and wildlife, fish,
31:02birds, eat those contaminants which slowly build up in their systems and ultimately poisoning them.
31:09What could be the health effects that we might notice as a result of having a contaminant from sewage sludge?
31:15What happens is that that builds up in the food system over time and we can find that we end
31:21up having more antibiotic resistant bacteria in our guts.
31:25And, you know, we're eating food that is potentially contaminated with more and more chemicals.
31:31Is it actually of a high enough level to have an impact?
31:34We know that it's by accumulating in the wildlife and in the soil sediments itself.
31:39What we need to see is that those contaminants are removed from the sewage sludge itself.
31:45So we need regulation, we need treatment processes in place and we need ultimately the producers of the contaminants to
31:52pay for that, not the farmers and us as customers and consumers of food.
32:00We raised farmers and environmental campaigners concerns directly with the water companies.
32:06Their industry representative, Water UK, declined an interview but told us
32:12Any standards and assessment techniques are a matter for the government and the regulator and need to be based on
32:19firm evidence.
32:21Water companies are actively supporting research to understand more.
32:25The UK government has banned the sale of some products containing microplastics and we need the same action on PFAS.
32:33We also need a national plan to remove it from the environment which should be paid for by the polluting
32:39manufacturers.
32:41So all eyes are on the outcome of the consultation, including those of the Environment Agency, the government regulator for
32:48sewage sludge in England.
32:50Nicola Appleton is their agricultural manager.
32:52In simple terms, what are the new regulations? What does it require to happen in the future that hasn't been
32:58happening in the past?
32:59That will be determined in the new regulations. It would give greater oversight then of what is within the sludge
33:05and more effective tracking of that.
33:08Are we talking about testing for things like persistent pollutants, forever chemicals, microplastics?
33:15We would hope that that would be included within the requirements.
33:18So you've been calling for this for quite a few years. It seems to me that maybe the government haven't
33:22been listening to you up until now.
33:24It required government to out, but it also required investment and more evidence around the issues.
33:31Some farmers think they've been put in a slightly unfair position.
33:34They were being given or buying something they thought was safe and they're now not sure. What would you say
33:40to them?
33:40Farmers need to be assured that what they are applying to their land is safe and that's why we are
33:46calling for new regulations that tighten those controls and give that greater confidence in what is contained within the sludge
33:55that they are spreading to their land.
33:57I mean, I know safe is often a difficult term, but it seems to me at the moment you can't
34:01say they're completely safe and that's why you've got new regulations coming in.
34:05We regulate sludge to ensure it's safe use. That is our role.
34:10But we think that whole system approach is needed. This needs to go further than just a reform of regulations.
34:15We can't turn off the tap on sludge, so we need to work with the whole supply chain to manage
34:23this.
34:23So with water industry and with farmers too.
34:28The UK government told Countryfile that...
34:31After decades of neglect, this government has acted in 18 months by proposing to tighten controls on spreading sewage sludge
34:39on farmland.
34:40Better protecting human health and the environment from potentially harmful contaminants.
34:49They also said that current practices do not pose an immediate threat to human health or the environment.
34:58The consultation on the use of sewage sludge closes in a couple of weeks' time.
35:04Farmers will be hoping that the regulations that follow will help end some of the controversy over its use.
35:11I think it's really important that we actually come together on it.
35:14It's absolutely vital for everybody that the health of our soils is looked after.
35:18I want to grow crops that my son and my daughter, they can grow crops in these fields as well.
35:22I want to be able to look after the soils and pass it on.
35:26As our understanding of what's in our waste grows, the question now is whether the rules can keep up.
35:34And if you want to find out more about this subject, farming today on BBC Radio 4 will be looking
35:40at sewage sludge and other fertilisers this week.
35:50Back in East Anglia, sugar beet has been part of the farming calendar for generations.
35:56And since the first campaign for harvest 100 years ago, growers here have had just one buyer, British sugar.
36:05But increasingly, given the price they're paid for it and the volatile weather, farmers are asking whether sugar beet is
36:12worth the effort.
36:17In Whisbeach St Mary, fourth generation farmer David Wheatley has grown sugar beet for 30 years.
36:26But its future on his farm is now in doubt.
36:33So this was your sugar beet field, and it could be the last sugar beet field on the farm.
36:37It could well be the last. I have said I'm not growing sugar beet no more.
36:41So why not?
36:45Because it hasn't made me money for quite a while, and next year they're paying like 12% less.
36:51So the price has gone down because of the world market on the sugar beet.
36:54And if I can't make money out of the money that they're paying now, it just makes it even harder
36:59for next year because I've got to grow more yield for less money.
37:03British sugar will say, look, you know, world commodity prices are affecting us, so that's why the price is going
37:08down.
37:08And that's the reality that they're facing.
37:11I know, but we're competing with Brazilian sugar cane.
37:14I can't compete with Brazilian sugar cane with the prices that we have to pay for stuff in this country.
37:20And I can't understand why we can't sell British sugar at a premium if that's necessary to support British farmers.
37:31To boost growth and yield from his crop, David delayed lifting his beet this year.
37:37It is a gamble that I was prepared to take because it's either lift your beet with no yield and
37:44not earning any money,
37:45or I've got more money for my beet, but I had to gamble on the weather and I don't think
37:52it's paid off this year.
37:52Once your land gets messed up like this, it takes a few years to get back again.
37:58But David hasn't fully given up on beet just yet.
38:03We've found some beet. What's this doing here?
38:07He's been growing some in a trial plot.
38:10Because, he says, if you can't beet it, eat it.
38:14I had an acre where I planted 70 different crops on it in order to live off this year.
38:20Right.
38:21And while the sugar beet drill was on, I might as well put some beet in as well.
38:25Put some of that in, yeah.
38:26But I didn't use any sprays or fertilisers on it because I wanted to see what grows
38:31and then in order to maybe expand on that.
38:34And most of the other crops on here failed, but the sugar beet grows all right.
38:41David's been sharing his sugar beet experiments on social media.
38:45So I made some roasted sugar beet.
38:49And they've sparked plenty of interest.
38:52It's not bad, actually.
38:54But I must admit, thank you very much, it's all I've ever wanted.
38:59There aren't many recipes I know that require sugar beet.
39:03David, why have you got me grating sugar beet?
39:07Well, we're going to make some sugar.
39:10So, first of all, we grate the sugar.
39:13And then I'll put it in a slow cooker with boiling water.
39:18Then keep it in there overnight.
39:20I've strained the pulp out, which is, like, through the grated.
39:23You've got the sugar in the water, so you've got a sugar water.
39:26Yeah.
39:27And then I'll transfer it over to another slow cooker.
39:31Evaporate all the water off it.
39:32And then we end up with a sugar syrup.
39:35Or you can tip it into these trays.
39:37So I've done this one last night.
39:39Yeah.
39:39And then over a couple of weeks, that'll crystallise.
39:43Homemade sugar.
39:44So that was just one sugar beet.
39:46Really?
39:47Yeah, made that sugar.
39:48So I think I've got 110 grams off one sugar beet.
39:51I mean, it's definitely sugary.
39:53It's a bit earthy, a bit molasses-y, but yeah, sugar.
39:57It's quite a lot of work to get from the beet through the stages to this.
40:05Do you think it's possible that someone could do sugar production on a small scale, but make it pay?
40:11100%.
40:12I've proved the process is not that difficult, which could be scaled up.
40:16And I'm pretty sure that there's a niche market to produce 100% British produce, which I think could be
40:24sold as a premium.
40:25Why not just be a farmer?
40:28I'd like to just be a farmer, but I don't have a lot of control in the prices of anything
40:35whatsoever.
40:37And sitting and hoping and praying next year's going to be better, some times don't come.
40:44So whilst I'm waiting for things to improve, I'm going to be trying these other things in order to see
40:51if I can create or find out if there's another market for anything in order to make enough money to
40:58support my family and stay on this farm.
41:04Farmers like David can only adapt so much.
41:07And with just one processor of sugar beet in the UK, attention inevitably turns to British sugar.
41:14So I'm putting those concerns to their agricultural director, Daniel Green.
41:19He works directly with growers across the country.
41:23Growers already know that they're going to be paid less next time than they have been this time.
41:28How sustainable is this? Because surely people are just going to stop growing sugar beet.
41:33Well, I think you have to look at it over the cycle.
41:35So sugar prices have reduced significantly from where they were a few years ago.
41:40And that's a result of the supply and demand across Europe, really.
41:45We're very much linked into the European prices for sugar.
41:48Farmers will say, well, we're not making money on this crop.
41:52Next year you're going to pay us less.
41:54And everything else that we're doing on the farm is costing us more.
41:58Are you worried long term about how many growers you will have if you can't start raising the price?
42:06I've been working in the industry for over 20 years.
42:09My family have been growing beet for my entire life.
42:12I'm very used to the cyclical nature of all crops and sugar beet.
42:16So am I worried? I'm not.
42:18I see all of the positive work we're doing with our growers.
42:21All of the innovation going on, on yield progression, digitisation of the supply chain to increase efficiencies.
42:27And I'm very positive about the future and think that, you know, we want long term relationships with our growers.
42:33And if we've got that and we focus on generation of value for the industry, I think we'll be very
42:37well placed to succeed in future.
42:41Whatever the future holds for this long standing British crop, next season, there'll be at least one less field of
42:47beet in Britain.
42:59Well, the weather in East Anglia today, it's wet, it's cold, it's muddy, it's misty.
43:04But what about the rest of the UK for the week ahead? Here is the Countryfile forecast.
43:17Hello, good evening.
43:18It's been a relatively quiet start to our March after all that rainfall we had through January and February.
43:24In fact, we had the warmest day of the year so far last week at 19, just over 19 degrees.
43:29The air is still with us, but it's been topped off by cloud for many parts this weekend.
43:33So it's been quite grey and misty and murky.
43:36These weak weather fronts just still making their way northwards and eastwards.
43:40So still reasonably mild to start this week.
43:43But it is all changed later, wet, windy and turning colder, potentially with some snow.
43:48That's really Thursday onwards when these weather systems become more lively.
43:53Heavier rain, tightly packed isobars, so windier weather and a colder wind direction as well, bringing the risk of some
43:59snow.
44:00And of course, some rain as well.
44:02It's all fairly quiet first thing for the first couple of days this week.
44:05But really midweek onwards, we start to see those rainfall totals rising, particularly in northern and western areas.
44:11But all of us will see some rain through this coming week.
44:14It's light and patchy for the most part out there at the moment.
44:17It's misty and murky over the hills.
44:18We've got a weather front out towards the north and west as well, brushing into western Scotland and northern Ireland.
44:23What does that mean overnight? Mostly mild, frost free, just because of all that cloud.
44:28But we could see some frost in the far northeast of Scotland temporarily.
44:31And where we do have the breaks and mist and some fog at lower levels as well.
44:35Great start to Monday, but hopeful that we'll see a bit more sunshine breaking through the clouds.
44:39Could be the warmest day of the week, potentially Monday, because we'll see temperatures in that sunshine up to 14
44:47or 15 degrees Celsius.
44:48But there's a lot of clouds, still a few showers in southern and eastern areas later and some showery rain
44:52further north and west, which will continue through Monday night.
44:56Indeed, our weather front towards the west starts to make inroads as well.
44:59So again, a largely frost free night Monday into Tuesday.
45:03A little bit of mist and fog to watch out for again.
45:06First thing on Tuesday morning, par for the course at this time of year.
45:09But again, it looks largely dry and bright across central eastern England, eastern Scotland.
45:13But our weather fronts, albeit rather weak, do bring grey drizzly weather a little bit further eastwards through the day
45:19on Tuesday.
45:20So it might just be 13 or 14 in that sunshine, 10 or 11 in the north.
45:25Then through Tuesday night Wednesday, we've got some fairly significant rain brushing its way eastwards,
45:29pushed through on a fairly brisk wind as well to lie across England and Wales for the rush Wednesday morning.
45:35The clouds may take a time to clear, but it does look bright.
45:37It could be that we see the most sunshine through the day on Wednesday, but it will be a blustery
45:42day.
45:42Some gales in the north and the west, some showers around as well,
45:46and a fresher feeling day because the winds shifted round to more of a westerly direction.
45:51So nines and tens across the northern half of the country by then.
45:55And then as we saw earlier, we've got a pretty active low pressure coming in through Thursday.
45:59Rain across Scotland and Northern Ireland, some gale force winds here.
46:03Still relatively mild across England and Wales, further south and east.
46:06But by Friday, all of the UK into that colder air coming down from the north and west.
46:13So some pretty wet weather through the day on Thursday, perhaps some drier, brighter weather ahead of it.
46:17But some of this could turn to snow over the hills in the north initially,
46:21and it'll be pushed on by the strong to gale force winds, really gusty winds right the way across the
46:26UK,
46:26which will obviously accentuate that chillier feel, which by Thursday, just nines and tens for the bulk of northern areas.
46:32And temperatures will fall away in the south later.
46:34So by Friday, we're all in that colder air.
46:36The showers will be a little bit wintry flavour wise, particularly over the hills.
46:40And temperatures barely reaching double figures.
46:43And that means an overnight frost as well.
46:54Back in the sugar beet fields of East Anglia, the weather may have hampered one farm's final harvest.
47:01Well, very sadly, it is just too wet to lift the beet.
47:09But the beet goes on.
47:11It's a slick procedure. It's choreography.
47:14It is, yeah.
47:15It's all coming together.
47:17And the production line never stops making the sweet stuff.
47:21When you pick up that teaspoon of sugar for your tea or coffee,
47:24you want the granules to be very uniform.
47:26And that's what we do.
47:32This year, the historic Whistington Sugar Factory celebrates its 100th campaign.
47:37But they never could have reached this milestone without the hard work of the sugar beet farmers here in East
47:43Anglia and beyond.
47:48Farmers like Alison Lawson's father, John Orford.
47:54Dare I ask to take sugar, John?
47:55No, I don't.
47:58Who has been working with sugar beet here in East Anglia for more than 70 years?
48:04I think I was brought up with sugar beet from a very early age.
48:09And it's just continued in my blood ever since.
48:12I've seen it develop over the years.
48:15When I was about 16 and I was working on a farm, all the work was either done by horses
48:21or by hand.
48:22It was hard work, but it was enjoyable because you had a lot more people.
48:27Nobody worked on their own and there was more rapport between the people probably than what there is today.
48:38John has some mementos from those early days and a battle scar to boot.
48:43You used this topping hook to top them with and this is how you went, like that.
48:51What I learnt the hard way was I held the beet like that, which I shouldn't have done because I've
48:58got a scar right down my finger.
49:00The correct way to hold the sugar beet is like that.
49:04I bet there's a lot of those injuries.
49:05Yeah, yeah, it was a lot of those injuries, but it was only a quick learning curve, you didn't do
49:10it again.
49:11Certainly a lot more labour intensive.
49:13Oh, it was very, very labour intensive.
49:17In the late 1950s, John was amongst the first to work with mechanised sugar beet harvesters.
49:25So, is this you?
49:26Yes, that's me, yes, yes.
49:28Sugar beet harvesting gets underway.
49:30John is driving the farm's tanker harvester, which tops, lifts and carries a tonne and a half of beet at
49:36a time.
49:38This machine in that day would have cost £1,350.
49:43That was pulled by a tractor that lifted one row at a time and you would have probably done five
49:50acres,
49:51whereas today we're doing 30 acres in a day.
49:53And it moved on a little bit from a single row machine to this, which was a six row machine.
50:02It was a major step forward from what we had been used to.
50:07And then 20 years on, we moved on to this one, which had a big 15 tonne tank.
50:14This one we got from Holland in 1991 and that's been so successful ever since.
50:20This is a forerunner of what you've seen today.
50:24You would have been one of the first in this country to have it.
50:27Yeah, this was the first one.
50:29We actually imported this one from the manufacturers ourselves.
50:33The present one today was still doing exactly the same tops, lifts and carry, but it's carrying anything up to
50:4025 tonnes compared with the one and a half tonnes in that machine.
50:45John, it actually works out that in your lifetime, you've seen the whole process of mechanisation from hand tools to
50:52where we are today.
50:54What an evolution.
50:56You go back all the years, that took so much labour, whereas today, two people could harvest 2,000 acres
51:03and be in a season.
51:07It's the 100th anniversary of the campaign, of the should be campaign.
51:12What do you hope for the next 100 years?
51:14Well, I would very much like to see the industry continue from a farming point of view, but we do
51:21rely on sugar still being used to make that happen.
51:27From a very personal perspective, looking at the three generations of your family that are working in this industry, your
51:36daughters, your grandchildren, what does that mean to you?
51:39That means a great deal, and I would just like to see that all carry on from what we have
51:46built.
51:47The food miles on it are so short.
51:50Surely that's got to be better than bringing it up halfway around the world.
51:54But we, in our case, we are committed to the crop, we've got the machinery, and that will continue here.
52:06A hundred years after British sugar production began, the beet still rolls in, faster and more mechanised than ever.
52:17But by its own admission, British sugar still has a lot of work to do to lower its environmental impact.
52:29Despite the soggy conditions today, the east of England is one of the driest parts of the country.
52:37And there are real concerns about water use.
52:40How do we share what's becoming a scarce resource between houses, businesses, particularly farming, and water-hungry places like Wissington?
52:51The plume of steam above Wissington is a constant reminder of just how industrial sugar production really is.
52:59This factory abstracts vast amounts of water from the River Wissie every year,
53:04which is something that senior project manager Chris Flynn is determined to reduce.
53:10Why is water such a big deal here?
53:13Sugar beet contains a lot of water, about 75%.
53:18So during the processing, we got a lot of effort to store the water that comes in with the sugar
53:24beet.
53:25Hence, we are surrounded by water.
53:27Yeah, yeah.
53:28And this will be stored for when you need it, basically in the summer.
53:32Exactly.
53:33So with all these reservoirs that we've got, we can see two here, this one, and then a new one
53:38just over there.
53:39Yeah.
53:39Do you have enough to keep you going?
53:43As it stands at the minute, we are short, so we do have to abstract water from the river.
53:47The new reservoir will put us in a position where there will be a definite reduction.
53:52We've got some other challenges to solve before we can get to a point where we can say we won't
53:57abstract any water.
53:58Why? Because you've got all this water. Why do you need to abstract any?
54:01It's still not enough.
54:02As part of a major push to improve efficiency and cut emissions at Whistington, the three old gas heaters are
54:09being swapped for two new steam dryers,
54:12a change that will be clearly visible across the skyline.
54:15So that plume you can see is just water vapor being evaporated from our sugar beet pulp.
54:22When our project goes live, that plume won't exist anymore because that's the water that will end up in our
54:28new reservoir.
54:29Lots of people who abstract water from rivers are under real pressure to use less, to use it more sensibly
54:35or not to use it at all.
54:37So in the sort of foreseeable future, how much of your own water will you be providing, do you think?
54:43We'll store 800,000 cubic metres of water and that might account for about 70% of our processes.
54:52So you'll still be taking quite a lot from the river?
54:57Yeah.
54:58We're licensed under that, we're not allowed to take whatever we want, but we do have an allowable usage from
55:03the river.
55:05Making sugar at this scale demands more than just water.
55:10British Sugar's factories are some of the most energy intensive food manufacturing sites in the UK.
55:17Philip McNaughton is the man tasked with changing that.
55:22How would you describe the carbon footprint? Because I'd describe it as kind of massive here.
55:27So I think when you look at the quantity of energy that we use, it is very significant.
55:32But over the years, we've developed to a position where we've got quite good at being energy efficient.
55:38We operate highly efficient combined heat and power plants, that gives us the heat and electricity on site.
55:43And then we've invested over a number of decades into steam reduction technology, energy efficiency practices in the factory,
55:51to the point where we've actually roughly halved the amount of energy to produce a tonne of sugar over the
55:56last 30 to 40 years.
55:59So whilst it's a big amount of energy, when you look at it per tonne of sugar, it's actually not
56:03quite as bad as you might think.
56:04How sustainable is sugar made in the UK actually long term, given how much power, how much water it needs?
56:11Can you argue that we really need to do this?
56:15I think we can. I think homegrown sugar industry has absolutely got its place in the UK.
56:20Not only are we supporting the agriculture and sugar being an important part of the crop rotation in the UK,
56:26but we are playing our part in providing that food stuff and feeding the nation in that respect.
56:31Looking forward though, you've got this product which is pretty hard on soils, it's energy hungry, it's water hungry,
56:37and let's be honest, it's sugar, we're not supposed to be eating it anyway.
56:40What's the future?
56:41So, you know, we see a solid and good future for the sugar beet industry in the UK.
56:47We still see it as a preferential alternative to imported sugar from far and away,
56:54so cane sugar that comes in from the likes of Brazil, India and so on.
56:58And we are in a position where we are seeing a decline in sugar consumption in the UK,
57:03and so therefore we still believe that the homegrown sugar industry can maintain its place in the marketplace and continue
57:10to be sustainable.
57:12This industry's future is likely to be shaped by both our appetite for sugar,
57:17farmers' enthusiasm for growing beet, and British sugar continuing to adapt to reduce its environmental impact.
57:33Come to me Charlotte!
57:35I'm just trying not to fall over, thank you!
57:38So has it been raining? Because I've been in a lovely warm sugar factory.
57:41So I hear, I've been mainly here in the field, so welcome back.
57:46It's weird to think that something so fundamentally ugly turns into sugar.
57:50Well I've started to think they're quite beautiful.
57:52Really? Yeah.
57:52Yeah, I don't see it.
57:53Well that is it from us here in the sugar beet fields.
57:56Join us next week when Adam and Anita will be rolling up their sleeves in Devon for the beginning of
58:01lambing season.
58:03I have to say, it is probably one of the cutest lambs I've ever seen.
58:07Aren't you? I know.
58:09We'll have to look after you, won't we?
58:12The last one John.
58:14Fingers crossed.
58:15Fingers crossed, come on.
58:16So this one's a two.
58:17Oh yes!
58:18Twins!
58:19Not quite as far on.
58:20Those rams did a good job.
58:23Come on then.
58:25Well it's certainly easier than carrying the lambs isn't it?
58:28Isn't it?
58:29Lambs coming through, lambs coming through.
58:33Hope you can join us then.
58:34Bye bye.
58:39Press Red now to get up close with Africa's magnificent felines in the new series of Big Hats 24-7
58:45on iPlayer.
58:46Next tonight on BBC One, can they hit the heights of the chefs already through to knockout week in Masterchef
58:52The Professionals?
58:53And on BBC Two, Antiques Roadshow.
59:02The
59:03The
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