Sugar Beets

Abstract

Abstract Sugar beets are grown in mostly temperate climates. They are grown in 50 countries. Sugar comes from two crops:sugar beets and cane sugar. At present sugar beets account for more than 50% of the total sugar crop in the U.S. In 2012–2013, 1,230 million acres of sugar beets were planted in the U.S. The crop is usually harvested at the end of the growing season and held in storage piles until processing. The beet root,weighing 1–2 kg, contains 12–20% sucrose, 70–75% water, and 2% soluble material, and ca 5% insoluble material, which is eventually dried and sold as animal feed by‐product. The beets are sliced, the solids extracted countercurrently, the juice is purified with lime and carbon dioxide then filtered and concentrated, and the sucrose recovered by crystallization in vacuum pans. The final mother liquor, molasses which is about 50% sucrose may be sold as by‐product or subjected to chromatographic separation to further recover sucrose and occasionally betaine. The sugar market is complex. The U.S. Sugar Program uses price support, domestic marketing procedures and tariffs to influence the amount of sugar available in the United States. About 94% of seeds planted are biologically engineered to offset the effects of herbicides use during the growing process.