Brighter outlook for sugar beet industry

The outlook for sugar beet growers is much brighter this spring.

About 135-thousand acres of beets are being planted this year in Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. And, for the first time since the Western Sugar Cooperative was formed in 2002, all of its shares are being planted.

Western Sugar spokesman Mike Hofer tells the Scottsbluff Star-Herald the combination of Roundup Ready sugar beets, a good water supply and good prices have created a lot of excitement in the industry. He says the sugar market has picked up, thanks to companies like Pepsi, Ocean Spray and some bakeries using more natural sugar in place of high fructose corn sweetener.

As a side note—Pepsi continues to use high fructose sweetener, but is test marketing soda pop made with natural sugar in several cities around the U.S.

source: brownfieldnetwork