When the global coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, many U.S. states issued direct stay-at-home orders to their residents in an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Due to their critical role in the U.S. food supply chain, farmers and farm and factory workers were deemed “essential” by the U.S. government. We couldn’t just isolate in our houses because we had a job to do making sure that American-made sugar was available to consumers. And we continued to do our jobs over the time that the different phases of restriction were implemented by the states to keep people safe. We did our jobs long before and during COVID-19 and we continue to do them today. As any farmer will tell you, there are no days off for us.
Farmers and farm and factory employees have always been essential. Agriculture is the very foundation of any healthy society, since one thing everyone has in common is the need to eat. Farming is not just an occupation for us, it’s a way of life. Our level of dedication and service to American consumers, day in and day out, in all weather, 365 days a year, is unprecedented.
Sugar is one of the world’s oldest documented commodities, dating back thousands of years. Today, the high standards and strong work ethic of American sugarbeet and sugarcane farmers have kept grocery store shelves across the country fully stocked with high-quality sugar come hell or high water. For generations, we have gone out and done our job despite unfavorable weather, difficult economic times, and even during a global pandemic, to ensure that no American will have to go without sugar.
In 1942, the war with Japan cut off U.S. imports from the Philippines and cargo ships from Hawaii were diverted to military purposes. Sugar was the first food to be rationed that spring and the nation’s sugar supply was quickly reduced by more than a third. To prevent hoarding and skyrocketing prices, the Office of Price Administration issued 123 million copies of War Ration Book One, which contained stamps that could be used to purchase sugar. No sugar could legally be bought without stamps, and sugar rationing would continue until supplies returned to normal in 1947 . Thanks to the hard work of America’s family sugar farmers, no sugar shortages have occurred that kept sugar off the shelves in grocery stores since that time.
Despite our hard work, commitment to consumers, the risks we shoulder and the high-quality product we produce, multinational candy companies are peddling the false narrative of a domestic “sugar shortage” to American consumers. That is a direct attack on American farmers and an attempt to blame us for problems that don’t exist. There is no sugar shortage. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, American sugar producers are setting the stage for a near record-breaking 2023-24 crop at almost 9.2 million tons of sugar. That would be the third largest year of sugar production ever. The strong 2023 U.S. sugarbeet harvest last fall sets the stage for beet sugar production to exceed 5.17 million tons, which is also near a record.
ADVERTISEMENT
The latest USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report shows a plentiful supply of sugar in the U.S. with more than 3.4 billion pounds of sugar supply in excess of demand — last year the surplus was more than 3.7 billion pounds.
Here are a few more indisputable facts about the current availability of sugar in the U.S. Florida sugarcane farmers harvested an abundant crop in 2023-24 due to overall favorable weather conditions and continued investments in technology and sustainable agriculture. Despite earlier drought issues, Louisiana is expected to produce 1.9 million tons of raw sugar. The U.S. is the 5th largest producer of sugar in the world. Our geographic diversity and ability to import the proper amount of sugar from more than 70 countries helps to keep an ample sugar supply in America. We’re able to provide just-in-time delivery to our customers thanks to our 90 processing and distribution facilities in 28 states, thus ensuring fully stocked grocery store shelves. Sugar crop farmers like my family and I are proud to supply America’s families as well as stores and food companies while supporting more than 151,000 jobs around the country in more than two dozen states. The $23.3 billion each year in economic activity contributes to economic opportunities for many rural and urban communities.
My family, along with every sugar crop farming family in the U.S., is committed to providing the highest quality product possible to consumers. However, it’s not easy and it is not getting easier. The costs of growing sugarbeets and sugarcane have drastically increased by more than 30% since 2019, according to in-depth analysis by agricultural economists.
“As farmers we take pride and satisfaction in knowing we help feed a hungry world, but all of our input costs are up, like everyone else’s,” said Neil Rockstad, president of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association and a fourth generation sugarbeet farmer from Ada, Minnesota. “The costs to run our farms are way up and we can’t stay in business if the price we receive for our crops stays the same or drops. Consumers have shown they want their food made right here in America, and many realize that the farmers' share of the food dollar at the store is very small. We as growers are thankful to the consumers who recognize the importance of a strong sugar industry for their food security.”
Sugar farming is a lifestyle of perseverance, community, and tradition. American sugarbeet and sugarcane farmers sustainably, safely, and consistently produce sugar here at home, so we don’t have to become overly dependent on foreign countries for our sugar supply. We have spent decades investing in our farms — it's our livelihood and our legacy. We produce 14% more sugar on 8% less land than 20 years ago and increased yield per acre by 23% while using less water, less energy and fewer agricultural inputs.
We have succeeded in always keeping affordable sugar on the shelves and in our favorite foods and preventing shortages from occurring. That success has caused our industry to be taken for granted. The cost and the years of hard work, the time and challenges, the stewardship of the land for generations and the personal investment that every sack of sugar on the shelf represents is often overlooked. It’s no different with every other food item in the grocery store and the farmers that make up just 2% of America’s population. The false claim of a sugar shortage by candy companies is a slap in the face to farmers like us who work year-round to deliver their sugar.
“Candy companies are blaming for American farmers for a non-existent shortage because prices have been higher for most grocery items over the last few years," said Rockstad.
“This has been a shell game of moving attention of the companies who raised grocery prices. As candy companies attempt to blame American farmers for problems that don’t exist, they are at the same time taking in record profits,” he said. “Instead of championing the very farmers who provide the essential ingredient to their goods, they want to dump foreign sugar into the U.S. at our expense. That undercuts domestic sugar production and risks good-paying jobs in American agriculture — mostly in small farming communities like ours.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The doubling of cocoa prices due to three years of poor harvests in West Africa is another reason behind the false sugar shortage narrative. However, while confectioners want lower sugar prices to try and offset losses elsewhere in their ingredient supply chain due to the cocoa shortage, consumers want American-made sugar. In fact, a national poll showed that Americans prefer American-made sugar by a margin of 8-to-1.
There is a lot at stake with the farm bill currently being debated by Congress — the first farm bill since a global pandemic. As we look to the future, we must ask ourselves what we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, because if we learned nothing, then shame on us. The first and foremost lesson is that any nation who is a significant importer of a good (the U.S. is the third largest importer of sugar worldwide) must also always be able to produce a stable domestic supply of that good.
“It was apparent how vulnerable we are as consumers to any type of unforeseen major event and how accustomed we have become to convenience, including every item being available whenever we desire to purchase it,” Rockstad said. “However, consumers have short memories and once the inconvenience is gone, their memory fades. Policymakers are a different story: tasked with creating a food policy that ensures every American has access to the basic human need of food, these legislators must consider the dire consequences of an inadequate food supply.”
Climate issues, and weather events like El Niño and La Niña adversely affect crops around the world. The recent pandemic caused significant global supply chain issues and as a nation we must ask ourselves if our food supply will be assured going into the future.
The pandemic was a test case for how vitally important strong domestic food production is for feeding people and protecting the nation’s food security by being food independent, according to Rockstad.
“That is a message that growers have carried to Capitol Hill, and a message that needs to be heard loud and clear as a new farm bill is written,” he said. “We want our customers to succeed because we need each other. But when confectioners and opponents falsely cry ‘sugar shortage’ to raise prices and push policy objections in Washington, it is dishonest to American consumers and insulting to hardworking American farmers and factory workers.”
National Agriculture Day was recently observed on March 19th. The best way to support farmers today and every day is to shop with confidence and purchase the high-quality products we work so hard to produce here in America. There is a lot at stake in the nation’s grocery store aisles and an investment in our products today is also an investment in the future of farming. Help us pass the torch to future generations of farmers by supporting American agriculture and ensure a bright future for us all.
The Trust Project
