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But what percentage of UK land is used for growing sugar beet? It must be a small fraction. How many bees are actually going to be in the vicinity of this? I ca

But what percentage of UK land is used for growing sugar beet? It must be a small fraction. How many bees are actually going to be in the vicinity of this? I can't see it being a large amount. Regarding "we can just import it", well yes, but if everyone took that opinion then there wouldn't be any farming anywhere eventually.

kurthr 6y ago
Sugar beets are only grown where cane is not a viable crop, but end-end they are typically about 2-3x the cost of production. Beet sugar is an awful ecological and economic choice created by putting taxes on the importation of cane sugar. To the extent that it is pure sucrose (and I'm not aware of any alcohols made from beets like rum is from molasses) there isn't any difference in the product either. The US pioneered the protection of the sugar industry with >100% tariffs (EU has followed) and thus they have the world's largest sugar beet industry... for little political reason other than protectionism for a Florida (or German dominated) industry. don't know if you should trust this link, but it's a decent paper: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/7000/files/cp02zi02.pdf https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/7000/files/cp02zi02.pdf p.s. The paper ends in the late 90s although little has changed other than the closing of the US cane industry in Hawaii.
- choeger 6y ago
  I might be wrong about this, as I don't work in the agrarian industry, but I think where I come from, beets were grown as an alternative to wheat, etc., to replenish the soil.
- vcdimension 6y ago
  The U.K. recently dropped tariffs from half of it's sugar imports as part of its post brexit, more outward looking trading policy: http://reut.rs/3s7MBYZ http://reut.rs/3s7MBYZ The countries that export sugar to the UK (including E.U. ones) use neonicotinoids, so I guess this emergency measure is to soften the blow to UK farmers, and give them some breathing space while they transition to other crops. It makes sense for the UK to import sugar rather than produce it locally since extracting sugar from beet is far less efficient than extracting it from cane.

kurthr 6y ago

Sugar beets are only grown where cane is not a viable crop, but end-end they are typically about 2-3x the cost of production. Beet sugar is an awful ecological and economic choice created by putting taxes on the importation of cane sugar. To the extent that it is pure sucrose (and I'm not aware of any alcohols made from beets like rum is from molasses) there isn't any difference in the product either. The US pioneered the protection of the sugar industry with >100% tariffs (EU has followed) and thus they have the world's largest sugar beet industry... for little political reason other than protectionism for a Florida (or German dominated) industry. don't know if you should trust this link, but it's a decent paper: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/7000/files/cp02zi02.pdf https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/7000/files/cp02zi02.pdf p.s. The paper ends in the late 90s although little has changed other than the closing of the US cane industry in Hawaii.

choeger 6y ago
I might be wrong about this, as I don't work in the agrarian industry, but I think where I come from, beets were grown as an alternative to wheat, etc., to replenish the soil.
vcdimension 6y ago
The U.K. recently dropped tariffs from half of it's sugar imports as part of its post brexit, more outward looking trading policy: http://reut.rs/3s7MBYZ http://reut.rs/3s7MBYZ The countries that export sugar to the UK (including E.U. ones) use neonicotinoids, so I guess this emergency measure is to soften the blow to UK farmers, and give them some breathing space while they transition to other crops. It makes sense for the UK to import sugar rather than produce it locally since extracting sugar from beet is far less efficient than extracting it from cane.