The two primary types of caloric sweeteners consumed in the United States are sugar and high-fructose corn syrup. Sugar or sucrose is a carbohydrate that occurs naturally in every fruit and vegetable. It is the major product of photosynthesis, the process by which plants transform solar energy into food. Two plants that produce large amounts of sugar from this process are sugar cane and sugar beets. Refined sugar from each of these plants is indistinguishable.  October 2005 . . . Sugar Beets

Sources

• Sugars and Sweeteners, Briefing Room, ERS, USDA. 
• Sugar and Sweetener Outlook, ERS, USDA. 

Marketing

• American Sugar Alliance - A national coalition of cane, beet and corn farmers, processors, suppliers, workers and others dedicated to preserving a strong domestic sweetener industry.
• American Sugar Beet Growers Association - The purpose of the organization is to unite the sugar beet growers in the United States and promote the common interest of its members, through legislative and international representation and public relations.
• Sugar Publications - Since the 1960s, Sugar Publications has served the U.S. and international sugar industry through the production and distribution of two well-known publications: The Sugar Beet Grower magazine and Gilmore Sugar Manual. The Sugar Beet Grower is a periodical geared toward today's U.S. and Canadian sugar beet producer.
• USDA Announces Updated 2002 Crop State Sugar-Marketing Allotments and Allocations - News release on new allotments for sugar beets.
• U.S. Sugar Industry Directory - This is a who's who of those involved in the sugar industry. There are listings for several hundred companies, organizations and agencies involved in the production, processing and marketing of sugar beets.

Processing/Manufacturing

• Quality Measurement and Contract Design: Lessons from the North American Sugar Beet Industry, Food System Research Group working paper, University of Wisconsin, Madison - This paper provides an alternative explanation for contract variations that relies on variation across production regions in growers’ ability to control the relevant measures of sugar beet quality.
• Value-Added Corner: Michigan Sugar, Value-Added Producer Grant Success Stories, Rural Cooperatives, 2004 - USDA helps Michigan sugarbeet growers purchase processing plant.

Production

• Facts About Sugar Beets and Beet Sugar- This case study follows a southern Minnesota sugar cooperative near Renville.
• Growing Sugar Beets - This site contains over 30 presentations featuring specialists from North Dakota State University and the University of Minnesota on sugar beet production, insects, weeds, etc.
• Sugar Beet, The National Non-Food Crops Centre, Heslington, York, U.K. 
• Sugar Beet Advancement- This site contains various sugar beet trials and results for different varieties, nitrogen, tillage, etc.
• Sugar Beet Research & Education Board of Minnesota and North Dakota - The Research and Education Board exists to promote research, education and sugar production.
• Sugar Beet Research Unit, USDA Ag Research Station - This Web site covers a wide variety of sugar beet research.

Businesses/Case Studies

• American Crystal Sugar Company - A cooperative of producers that has grown to include a processing plant.
• American Crystal Sugar Company: Diversification in the Corn Sweetener Industry, Kansas State University - This case study focuses on the sugar and sweetener industries during the 1990s.
• The Rocky Mountain Sugar Growers Cooperative: "Sweet" or "Sugar-Coated" Visions of the Future?, Ag Marketing Resource Center, Kansas State University, 2004 - A cooperative corporation formed in June 2000 for the purpose of acquiring the Western Sugar Company.
• Wyoming Sugar Company, Ag Marketing Resource Center - An overview of the sugar company, which began in 1916.

Links checked December 2007.