Sugar beet is pivotal in the history of agriculture and industry in Ireland and has been uniquely politicised throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first century. The new state began with an undeveloped tillage and industrial sector and a mission to create an independent Ireland. The idealistic adoption of sugar beet as a national priority gives us a flavour of the times. The sugar industry was a particularly Irish form of enterprise; one that integrated agriculture with industry. It made sense in a country with a strongly rural self-conception and an intrinsic distrust of the industrial urbanism of its nearest neighbour that so many Irish people emigrated to. It was an example of Irish agricultural and industrial cooperation, exploitation of a raw natural resource that changed the economic and social landscape of rural Ireland. It managed the tension between rural and industrial milieus as well is in its early history the tensions between the social functions of enterprise and the need to be competitive and profitable. Its legacy is deep and extensive. Professor Jimmy Burke states that “the Irish sugar beet industry directly employed many hundreds of staff but also provided over 10,000 additional jobs on farms, in agricultural contracting, haulage and in the service industries. Its closure dealt a serious blow to rural Ireland and to the Irish tillage sector.” The industry fostered technical enterprises to grow around the factories and trained professionals who went on to work in other parts of the state and in private enterprise. Although the towns were very badly impacted by the factory closures, echoes remain. Ben McGarry asks “is it a coincidence that ‘regional’ colleges (now Institutes of Technology) were later established at three of these locations? The sugar industry supported the development of the social fabric and economic prosperity of the country.”



The 1930s in Ireland is not a period many would wish to return to, yet some of its preoccupations persist as we look towards the future. The interest in self-sufficiency, while at odds with globalised free trade, chimes with current calls for local food systems and a sustainable approach to agriculture. Growing as much as possible of our own food is desirable; in terms of sustainability, food sovereignty and indeed food security. The interest in self-reliance of the 1930s and 40s may stem from the trauma of the Famine and fears of reliance on insecure food chains, and a desire to cut ties with Britain. Our impetus now may be environmental. Whether sugar, given its current health status, is a food that should be considered top of the list, is questionable, but the premise of growing our own is important. When I asked Pippa Hackett, farmer, Green Party local councillor and their spokesperson for Agriculture, Food, Forestry, Heritage and Animal Welfare about the intersections of agriculture, economics and public health she commented that “all three are intrinsically linked. Rarely do health and agriculture get mentioned in the same sentence. Human health depends greatly on food, and if government could support the production of more home grown, locally produced foods, including high welfare, grass fed meats, eggs, pesticide free grains, nuts, fruit, vegetables and so on; as opposed to pursuing a policy of increasing production at any cost, environmental or otherwise, then we may well be able to improve the health if our nation.” Is it time for the same vision and ambition that gave rise to the Irish sugar industry to be brought to the growth and processing of fruit, vegetables and other cereals that Ireland currently imports on a large scale? Adaptation of our food system towards a more local and sustainable food economy requires a similar resolve. Sugar beet was fuel for social change in Ireland, sustaining and nurturing economic, industrial and social development. Perhaps there is a place for beet in the future agricultural landscape of Ireland, but perhaps even more can be learned by taking its inception as a template, an example of visionary Irish agri-industry that sought to meet social needs.