Sugar Beet Farming in the U.S. - An Historical Overview

The extraction of sucrose from beets was a well-established practice in Europe before U.S. farmers began planting, harvesting and processing the crop.

The first sugar beet factory, in Northampton, Massachusetts was built in 1838 and was only in operation for two years due to the failure of the crop to thrive. 

In the 1850s, the pioneers in Utah began investigating sugar beet cultivation and sucrose processing. They established their first sugar beet factory in 1852.

Because they lacked the knowledge of chemical processes needed for extracting sucrose, the endeavor wasn’t prosperous, and they abandoned the idea of sugar beet farming.

Many sugar beet factories that sprang up at this time failed. The factory owners only imported their beet seed from Europe, “even though the Department of Agriculture explained that better results could be obtained when using home produced cultivars” (Harveson)

The first successful commercial production of sugar beets was in Alvarado and Watsonville, both located in central California.

With the success of sucrose extraction in central CA, developers in Orange County, CA, jumped on board, and Beet Sugar became a hot commodity. They boasted five modern factories and claimed to produce the finest sugar made on earth. An ad in the Santa Ana Daily Register boasts:

“Large tracts of land which were formerly alkaline, swamps and barren wastes have been reclaimed by the introduction of the culture of the sugar beets…”

(Santa Ana Daily Register)

Sugar beets changed the landscape and the price of land in Orange County, for the crop would grow where no others dared.

Eventually, the Utah pioneers were able to perfect the extraction of sucrose and the newly erected factory made its first crystallized sugar in 1891. In Idaho, four smaller sugar companies were also producing sugar from beets and eventually merged with the Utah Sugar Company, and U&I (Utah & Idaho) Sugar was born. The removal of tariffs on imported cane sugar threatened the beet sugar industry, forcing U&I sugar to cut jobs to stay in business.

However, the availability of imported cane sugar diminished during World War I and World War II and the beet sugar industry thrived once again. U&I sugar expanded outside of the Utah and Idaho borders.

But when the war ended, prices dropped, and U&I again struggled to get by. To add insult to injury, curly top, a disease spread by whitefly, attacked the beet crops. The industry suffered. The USDA devoted money to research to find insect-resistant varieties of sugar beets and due to their efforts, by 1934 crop plantings were the best they had been in years. 

But, by the 1970s, U&I Sugar could no longer compete with the increasing imports of cane sugar and the even cheaper commodity of corn syrup. U&I sugar once dominated the shelves of Western grocery stores. Its extinction was felt by many who had relied on the product for their livelihood.

(American History)

American History. The History of U&I Sugar: A Beet Sugar Powerhouse. 21 August 2017. 24 September 2019.

Harveson, Robert M. History of Sugar Beets. n.d. 24 September 2019.

Santa Ana Daily Register. "Farming Sugar Beets." 1 October 1914. https://historicsouthernsantaana. 24 September 2019.