Special Section: Sugar Beets
Keeping
Minnesota Sweet
Maintaining
domestic sugar markets a top priority
E. M. MORRISON
You’ve heard of “Minnesota
Nice?” Well, there is also “Minnesota Sweet.”
Minnesota is the nation’s
leading producer of sugar beets — a sturdy root crop that
pumps plenty of sweetness into Minnesota’s economy. Sugar
beets generate almost $2 billion in economic activity for
Minnesota, and account for some 20,000 jobs and more than
$40 million in state tax revenue, according to a 2004 study
by North Dakota State University.
Minnesota farmers — who last
year planted nearly 500,000 acres of sugar beets — are
working to keep the local beet industry sweet. Growers are
supporting research to boost sugar beet yields and improve
sugar refining. They are also backing trade agreements that
cap sugar imports. And they are planning a new public
relations campaign that explains sugar’s place in a healthy
diet.
“If there is one message we
want to get out to people, it’s to understand the role sugar
plays in the economy of the Upper Midwest,” says Nick
Sinner, executive director of the Red River Valley Sugar
Beet Growers Association, which represents 2,500 beet
growers in Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. Minnesota
last year produced one-third of the country’s sugar beets:
just under 10 million tons, worth more than $310 million in
farm cash receipts.
State
growers process their sugar beets at farmer-owned
cooperative refineries in Minnesota and North Dakota. The
largest, 900-member American Crystal Sugar, based in
Moorhead, last year manufactured three billion pounds of
sugar — about 18 percent of the domestic sugar supply — and
reported revenues of $1 billion. The state’s beet refineries
also make high-quality livestock feed from beet pulp, most
of it for export markets.
Tenuous trade policy
But the thriving Midwest sugar industry could turn sour if
American trade policies change, allowing more cheap foreign
sugar into the country, Sinner says. U.S. trade agreements
now allow domestic producers to market about 85 percent of
the sugar consumed here. The rest is imported from around
the world at well below U.S. sugar prices.
Competing alternatives
Lower sugar consumption and alternative sweeteners also pose
challenges for Midwest sugar beet growers, says Jeff
Schweitzer, a spokesman for American Crystal Sugar.
Sugar use dropped sharply in the early 1980s,
when cheaper high-fructose corn syrup replaced sugar in soft
drinks and some bakery products. In the 1990s, sugar
consumption grew at a small but steady pace, Schweitzer
says, and “there is a small move now to beverages sweetened
with sugar.” However, alternative sweeteners, low-carb diets
and the loss of confectionary manufacturing continue to
weigh on sugar use, he says.
All-natural
sweetener
To
bolster demand, the sugar industry has launched an image
campaign promoting sugar as an all-natural sweetener with
just 15 calories per teaspoon. “We think it’s necessary to
get the facts about sugar out there,” Sinner says.
“Everything in moderation: sugar, in moderation, can be part
of a healthy diet.”
Few new uses
Midwest sugar beet farmers have focused their research and
development efforts on
improving crop quality, varieties, yields and sugar content.
“Our average ton-per-acre yields and our average sugar
content have increased gradually, and that’s a trend we hope
to see continue,” Schweitzer says. On the refining side,
American Crystal is focusing on improving efficiency and
boosting the amount of extracted sugar.
But so
far, there have been only a handful
of attempts to come up with new sugar beet uses, says
Michael Sparby, AURI project director. Scientists at the
University of Minnesota, for example, are refining beet pulp
and other crop fibers for polymers. AURI has helped growers
research beets’ potential for biomass energy and
pharmaceutical sugars such as ribose.
URI has
also helped beet farmers explore using beet sugar to boost
ethanol production. A 2000 research project showed that
adding crystalized sugar to the corn slurry speeded
fermentation, says Wayne Wagner, a Crookston farmer and
legislative liason for the Red River Valley Sugar Beet
Growers Association. Future research will evaluate using
less-refined sugar beet syrup to make ethanol.
In the
current market, it doesn’t make economic sense to use beet
sugar in ethanol manufacturing, Wagner says. He estimates
that ethanol would return less than one-third the current
domestic sugar price. However, ethanol could offer an
alternative use for excess sugar in bumper-crop years, when
U.S. sugar production exceeds government trade quotas, he
says.
In
addition, U.S. sugar-cane farmers are showing an interest in
manufacturing ethanol, Sinner says. “If they are successful,
that could move cane sugar out of U.S. sugar markets to
ethanol. So the sugar beet industry could receive some
indirect benefit from that.”
Meanwhile, Sinner says, “We’re fighting to keep sugar here
in the Midwest because it’s a profitable crop for growers,
provides jobs and helps keep our main streets open.”
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