Hundreds of farmers are expected to have their say over the closure of a Midland sugar plant during a meeting in Shropshire today.
Last week British Sugar announced plans to close its Allscott factory, near Telford - which processes sugar beet round-the-clock - by the end of the 2006/07 production campaign.
A task group of farmers, councillors and local business leaders met in Shrewsbury yesterday to look at the wider impact the plants closure would have on the region's economy.
Arthur Hill, whose family have farmed 200 acres of sugar beet at Walton Grange in Much Wenlock, Shropshire since 1948, said proposals to shut the factory would have a major impact on his livelihood.
Mr Hill, who is also NFU chairman of cereals, said: "The impact of British Sugar's closure will be huge. It's not just farmers, it'll affect contractors, hauliers, the environment, it'll affect everything.
"Farmers will now have to rethink how they farm their land in future and, as the next sowing season starts in September, these decisions need to be made as quickly as possible. But British Sugar have shown zero interest in our concerns so far."
In 2002, the company closed a plant in Kidderminster, Worcestershire.
This resulted in crops from hundreds of Midlands farms being transported to the Allscott plant, where they could be processed.
The Shropshire site, which was built in 1927, saw a £20 million expansion programme to allow it to cope with the extra work and to make the process more efficient.
