Overview
Sugar is only one type of sweetener. The other types of caloric sweeteners include corn syrup, honey and other edible syrups like sorghum. In the United States, the most frequently consumed sweeteners are sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). 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 sugarcane and sugar beets. Refined sugar from each of these plants is indistinguishable. August 2008 . . . Sugar Beets
- 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.
- Quick Stats, Agricultural Statistics Database, NASS, USDA - This database offers national- and state-level statistics for sugar beets.
- Sugar, U.S. Baseline Briefing Book, Food and Ag Policy Research Institute (FAPRI), University of Missouri, March 2008.
- 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.
- 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.
- WSRO.com (World Sugar Research Organisation) - This international scientific research organization is supported by the worldwide sugar industry.
Processing/Manufacturing
- 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.
- 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.
- American Crystal Sugar Company: Making Ethanol from Sugar Beets?, Greg McKee, North Dakota State University, and Mike Boland, Kansas State University, 2007 - This case study considers various economic factors that impact the supply and demand for ethanol and how sugar beet ethanol is produced.
- 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.