Idaho sugarbeet acreage is on the decline. That’s because sugarbeet yields are on the rise.
It’s not the usual supply-and-demand scenario, but it’s how the Farm Bill’s sugar program works.
In order to stabilize the volatile price of refined sugar, the U.S. Department of Agriculture uses domestic marketing allotments, along with price supports and tariff-rate quotas, to control the amount of sugar available to the U.S. market.
The sugar program “is an agreement between growers and consumers, administered by the government, that assures a steady supply of sugar at a reasonable price to consumers,” said Duane Grant, chairman of the Snake River Sugar Co.’s board of directors. Snake River Sugar is the grower-owned cooperative that owns Amalgamated Sugar Co.
“Sugar is unique in how it’s managed,” Grant said. “The (USDA) monitors sugar consumption nationally and tracks the consumption year to year, then allocates 80 percent of domestic sugar consumption to the domestic sugar industry.”