Did you
know that 60% of the 8.8 million tons of sugar produced in the US originated in
sugar beets? That fact alone shows that sugar beet farming and the product it
provides impacts women everywhere. However, women are not just impacted
nutritionally as sugar consumers; there is an economic, political, social, and
environmental impact as well.
Farmers of sugar beets use seeds from Monsanto, a GMO
company. Because more people are demanding non-GMO products, the sugar beet
industry is losing market shares. Laura Rutherford, who farms beets in North
Dakota said the anti-GMO crowd is "trying
to drive a wedge between the farmers and the consumers." As a result, 18 women, who are sugar beet
farmers or farmer's wives, were recruited by the American Sugar Beet Growers
Association. They are engaging in a social media campaign and amplifying their
lobbying efforts.
Their objective is to turn public opinion on GMO's and
sugar beets.
Sarah Rachor is a fourth-generation sugar beet farmer in
Montana.
This year over 1.200 acres of sugar beets went
unharvested due to the poor weather conditions. Rachor and other sugar beet
farmers had to leave beets in the ground this year, leaving their profit out in
the field.
Without a crop to process, farmers, their families,
workers at processing plants, and the communities in which they live all
suffer.
There is an economic downside to sugar beet farming
beyond uncertain weather conditions. The discrepancy between how much a product
costs and what the farmer gets paid can be the most significant deterrent to
farming sugar beets. Rachor receives the same pay her father did in 1979 for a
sugar beet harvest, yet the cost to raise sugar beets has risen steadily.
What now?
Sugar beet farmers can get involved in their local and
national Farmers Union and follow the Farm Bill. The decisions made in DC have
an impact on agriculture and farming in all states. The farmers can attend
workshops and conferences like those held by the Sugar Beet Growers
Association, to learn new or different practices in growing and harvesting the
sugar beets.
Another approach is to find innovative ways to use sugar
beets. Take Madison Kate Dyer, for example. Dyer began a start-up company
called Street BEETs. Dyer has shown that sugar beet juice is more efficient at
preventing ice build-up on cars and road surfaces than salt is. Salt lowers the
freezing point to 25 degrees while sugar beet juice lowers it to 5 degrees.
Dyer claims her sugar beet juice would be odorless, colorless, and
environmentally friendly.
The creation of Street BEETs' would include farming,
juicing and distribution, creating jobs, or providing a new economic stream for
current sugar beet farmers. There is an additional revenue stream from selling
the leftover beet pulp to animal feed companies.
Regardless of the use of the sugar beets, it all begins
with farming and the product, or lack of product impacts women everywhere.
Blankenship, Hannah. "Beets, shoes and
technology: students pitch startup ideas at first ECAB of the semester." Gale
Academic Onefile (2019): 1.
Blum, Susan D. "Called by the Earth: Women in
Sustainable Farming." J. Workplace Rights (2012): 3-4.
Bruno, Lyndsay. Member Profile: A Sugar Beet Farmer's Way
of Lie. 14 June 2018. 3 December 2019.
Efta, Amy. Sugar Beet News. 22 November 2019. 3
December 2019.
Reuters. Monsanto backlash? Sugar beet farmers face tough
competition from non-GMO products. 30 October 2015. 3 December 2019.
