As we all watch the green come back to our Farms, Ranches, Lots, and lawns, we thought we could provide a few Farm Time Sugar Beet Facts.

Most of us don’t farm sugar beets, but we all enjoy the sugar provided by these rooted beets. Here’s a few facts:

• Sugar Beets became a source of sugar in 1747 by Andreas Marggraf in Poland, and later farmed in North America in 1879
• Now, over half of the USA Sugar comes from beets right here in the USA
• The color of a sugar beet is white, not the same color as your Thanksgiving dinner red beet
• The sugar that comes from Sugar Cane is the same identical molecular structure as sugar from a sugar beet
• Sugar beets are planted in the early spring and harvested in October
• Sugar Beets are a root-based plant, like an onion, and require irrigation
• Although these beets are perishable, the colder end-of-year weather allows them to be stored in piles before processing
• Beets require a lot of care, water and but modern crops do not require heavy chemicals