Sugar Beet Folklore

I could not find folklore specific to the sugar beet.  However, there was folklore about the beet and folklore about sugar. 

Milk and Sugar: Parsi Folklore
There are many legends in India of how the Parsi's were allowed to settle there. The general story states that the priestly leaders were brought before the local ruler, Jadi, who presented them with a vessel filled to the brim with milk, to signify that the surrounding lands could not possibly accommodate any more people.  The Parsi head priest responded by sprinkling some sugar into the milk to signify how the strangers would enrich the local community without displacing them.  They would dissolve into life, like sugar dissolves into milk, sweetening the society but not unsettling it. (NPR)

Bhabha recounts Parsi New Year at his grandmother's house.
Homi Bhabha, professor of English and director of the Humanities Center at Harvard University, is also a Parsi from Bombay.

On Parsi New Year, Bhabha says, his mother always had new clothes made for the children and would bathe them in milk in which a sprinkle of sugar was added along with crushed rose petals.  The family would then go to his grandmother's house where a long table was laden with auspicious foods, like fish for fertility.

"We drank this absolutely delicious milkshake-like drink, falooda, made of pink rosewater, sugar and ice cream and little jelly-bean like seeds, basil seeds," he says. "As I sipped my drink, I often recalled the founding story of the Parsi's dissolving like sugar in the milk." (NPR)

Beet Folklore with a basis in reality.
In Greek mythology, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, ate beets to enhance her appeal.  Some still consider beetroots to enhance beauty and provide aphrodisiac properties.  
The fact is, beets are a natural source of tryptophan and betaine, both substances that promote a feeling of well-being.  They also contain high amounts of boron, a trace mineral that increases the level of sex hormones in the human body.
Ancient Romans believed that beets and their juice promoted amorous feelings.  Eating beets may help your heart "beet" for that special someone. (Avey)

Avey, Tori. PBS Food: Discover the History of Beets. 8 October 2014. 30 October 2019.

NPR. NPR: Hidden Kitchens: The Kitchen Sisters. 20 March 2008. 30 October 2019.

The Role of Children in Sugar Beet Farming (Manpower)

Cane sugar was primarily grown and harvested by slave labor in the Southern states before the Civil War. As a result, sugar beets were heralded by abolitionists as “free sugar” because it was not produced by slave labor on sugar plantations.

But was it indeed “free sugar”? In the 1880s, the soil in Nebraska was deemed suitable for sugar beet crops, and incentives were given to area farmers. These farmers used mostly German-Russian and Mexican immigrant families to plant, tend, and harvest the fields.

This practice was the norm for decades, where families worked from October to April in sugar beet production. The farmworkers lived in shacks, and children were pulled from school to work alongside their parents. The workday for everyone averaged 12 hours. 

Because the American Dream is so tied to agriculture and farm life as the ideal, child labor practices on the farm had not even been considered as oppressive.

“Thomas Jefferson championed the notion that farm work was good for children and served as a bulwark of economic, social, and moral values. (Barrett).” Because working conditions in mines and factories had been deemed unsafe for children, farm work was considered character building, and many children went for extended stays to work on rural farms as a result. 

Investigators had to find a way to convince the public that the labor expected of children on the farm was just as rigorous and harmful as that of the mines and factories. They settled on the practice of “thinning,” one phase in the sugar beet harvest, to scrutinize. “A day’s work during “thinning” season typically involved both children and parents walking through the rows of plants and bunching them with hoes, while smaller children crawled behind them and plucked out the plants (Sargent).” Parents or farm owners justified this practice saying that this work was hard on the backs of adults but did not hurt the children. 

Investigators compiled what is known as the North Platte Valley report. To protect children, they were the first to demonize farmers, parents, and companies as proponents of unlawful child labor. One big mistake they made was not taking into consideration other forces at play, such as the idealization of the agrarian lifestyle and social constructs contributing to the misfortunes of the children and their families.

The amendment that finally ended child labor in the sugar beet industry was signed in 1934, the Jones-Costigan Amendment. This amendment did not allow children under 14 to work in sugar production. However, farmers’ and owners’ children were exempt from this amendment until 1970 when new age and hour restrictions were put into place.

Sara A. Brown and Robie O. Sargent, “Children in the Sugar Beet Fields of the North Platte Valley of Nebraska, 1923,” Nebraska History 67 (1986): 256-303. Reprint.

Mary Lyons-Barrett, “Child Labor in the Early Sugar Beet Industry in the Great Plains, 1890-1920,” Great Plains Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 1 (WINTER 2005), pp. 29-38

SUGAR BEET FEED Visual Rhetoric

Beet Pulp – What Is It and Why Do Horses Need it?  Standlee Premium Western Forage, asks a question of the consumer while showing an appealing image of the horse and owner.

This ad asks a question: "Beet Pulp – What Is It and Why Do Horses Need It?"

The use of the question, coupled with the appealing visual, encourages the consumer to seek an answer. The image of the Palomino horse automatically provokes a feeling that this beet pulp product will make your horse look as healthy and beautiful as the horse in the picture. The Palomino is the horse most commonly used by royalty and Hollywood. The woman in the picture has blonde hair and a golden coat, just like the palomino horse. The similarities help the consumer to see the horse and owner are one. Smiles are contagious, and the bright smile the girl flashes while lovingly petting the horse elicits a feeling of affection. 

The Standlee logo in the bottom right corner is a green field with a bright orange sun, bringing a feeling of prosperity and warmth to the Standlee name, which is also in green. The color represents growth and abundance. 

The question and the PHN logo are in black, which stands out from the light colors of the horse and the girl. The eye goes directly to these dark colors before noticing the images. The font is easy to read but uses a lot of capitalization, which is not the standard practice in a sentence. With each capitalized word, there is added emphasis on the question, which then evokes further inquiry from the consumer. 

To answer both questions: What Is Beet Pulp and then Why do horses need it? the consumer must read the article below this image. (https://standleeforage.com/standlee-barn-bulletin/what-do-you-know-about-beet-pulp).

Standlee explains that "Beet Pulp is the pulp leftover from the sugar beet once the sugar has been removed and is commonly used as the main ingredient in animal feeds " 

Sugar Beet pulp is perfect for animals that need to gain weight or recover from surgery (Standlee). 

For those who may consider farming as a lucrative occupation, this ad shows that sugar beet crops have a dual purpose. As is commonly known, sugar from sugar beets is used to sweeten snacks and other food products. This ad helps one discover that the pulp is used in horse feeds. The beet pulp feed isn't just for a sick or injured horse, but for any horse that may need to put on a little weight. It is a high calorie, low sugar, supplemental feed.

This visually and emotionally appealing ad is effective in piquing the consumers' interest in finding out more about the less commonly known use of the sugar beet crop.