Overview

Photo courtesy of American Sugarbeet Growers Association.

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 sugarbeets. Refined sugar from each of these plants is indistinguishable.  August 2009 ... Sugarbeets

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 Sugarbeet 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.
• Sugarbeets, Quick Stats, Agricultural Statistics Database, NASS, USDA - This database offers national- and state-level statistics for sugarbeets.
• Sugar, U.S. Baseline Briefing Book, Food and Ag Policy Research Institute (FAPRI), University of Missouri, 2009.
• 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 Sugarbeet Grower magazine and Gilmore Sugar Manual. The Sugarbeet Grower is a periodical geared toward today's U.S. and Canadian sugarbeet 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 sugarbeets.
• WSRO.com (World Sugar Research Organisation) - This international scientific research organization is supported by the worldwide sugar industry.

Processing/Manufacturing

• The Economic Feasibility of Ethanol Production from Sugar in the United States, Louisiana State University and USDA, 2006.
• Ethanol from U.S. Sugar Feedstocks: A Sweet or Sour Deal?, Ethanol Producer magazine, 2007 - Examines if U.S. feedstocks customarily used to refine sugar—sugarcane and sugarbeets—would make good candidates as ethanol feedstocks.
• 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 sugarbeet production, insects, weeds, etc.
• Iowa State Researches Growing Sugar Beets for Biofuel, Iowa State University, 2009.
• Sugar Beet, The National Non-Food Crops Centre, York, U.K.
• Sugarbeets, Michigan State University Extension - This site contains various sugarbeet trials and results for different varieties, nitrogen, tillage, etc.
• Sugarbeet Research & Education Board of Minnesota and North Dakota - The Research and Education Board exists to promote research, education and sugar production.
• Sugarbeet Research Unit, USDA Ag Research Station - This Web site covers a wide variety of sugarbeet 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, 2002 - 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 sugarbeet 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, 2003 - An overview of the sugar company, which began in 1916.

Links checked May 2009.