[Revi]

I make maple sugar, and I'll tell you the cost of making the stuff has gone up in recent years, meanwhile the amount of sap we're getting is going down. I looked at the wood in the woodshed and calculated that we are using $600 worth of wood to make $1000 worth of product. That doesn't include all the other costs. The bigger sugarhouses that use oil need to pay more for their oil and their electricity. The cost of production has gone up so fast that a lot of sugarmakers have called it quits. Everything floats up with the price of oil. The prices we get paid for a pint of syrup should go up too. If you knew the work that went into producing any kind of sugar, you'd gladly pay the prices that they are asking.

I used to live in Costa Rica and saw the process of making sugarcane into sugar. Lots of labor. It's worth the price that they are getting. I know that Brasil uses a lot of machinery that needs diesel to run. It all costs more now. The era of cheap food, and cheap sugar is over.

[sameu]

disturbing

again the frog in boiling water story
now they talk about the fear of inflation
but when the high price of oil has worked his way through the economy, we'll see real inflation. It's inevitable, how could such an increase of such an important commodity not have serious consequences?
and that's when it'll start to look real ugly and it won't get any better

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Revi', '.')..If you knew the work that went into producing any kind of sugar, you'd gladly pay the prices that they are asking...

[Revi]

PO will remedy the problem. I agree. Will the cure be worse than the disease? I like my 3 meals a day. I make maple syrup to remind myself of the way things were, and are going to be again soon...

[miraculix]

TOD Brazilian s-caneThis would be fuel for Lorenzo. Anyhow, the report shows clearly that these results are not transferrable to the US.

BTW, can anybody direct me to EIOER studies on biofuels from hemp? How does hemp compare to canola/rape seed? Has there been any large scale production of biofuels from hemp?

[Heineken]

The article is very superficial and biased, and Lorenzo has been expelled from this site.

Giant Brazilian sugarcane fields destroy and displace natural ecosystems, disrupt hydrological flows, and wipe out plant and animal species. There is nothing "sustainable" about that. We can't wipe out nature and replace it with our crap and hope to get away with it forever.

[oilfreeandhappy]

The article states that the US has high tariffs on Brazilian Ethanol, to support our local corn growers. However, it also talks about some sad realities with respect to Ethanol from corn versus sugarcane:
"One way the Brazilian example does not benefit the U.S. is in providing a template for success. As I have argued previously, Brazil's particular situation is not applicable in the U.S. As I wrote in an article for World Energy Source, the U.S. uses 7 times the energy per capita that Brazil does. Our supply/demand imbalance gap is 16.9 barrels per person per year. Theirs was 0.2 barrels per person last year, prior to the opening of a new Petrobras platform earlier in the year (immediately after which they declared energy independence). Furthermore, we rely on a crop (corn) in the U.S. that is much less energy efficient, and has ten times the soil erosion of sugarcane production. Finally, we are not in a tropical climate, and therefore have a much shorter growing season than does Brazil."

[joelcolorado]

I remember my father inlaw telling of the sugar beets in western kansas and eastern colorado. There are lots of old abandoned sugar factories out there still.

Does anyone know why they quit producing thatway? I know its probably due to cheap sugar cane overseas. That is a given. But now with the need for sugar for a fuel source, is that a market that can be used again.

I have no idea the tonnage per acre on this. If any of you are smart enough to figure it out, let me know.
kk

[canis_lupus]

The government subsidizes sugar cane producers in FL. The cost to compete became way too high.

Sugar subsidies is one of the tragedies of our "free market" economy.

The beet producers went out of business, as did the trains that moved them to the plants, as did the plants, etc.

[Confirmed]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joelcolorado', 'I') remember my father inlaw telling of the sugar beets in western kansas and eastern colorado. There are lots of old abandoned sugar factories out there still.

Does anyone know why they quit producing thatway? I know its probably due to cheap sugar cane overseas. That is a given. But now with the need for sugar for a fuel source, is that a market that can be used again.

I have no idea the tonnage per acre on this. If any of you are smart enough to figure it out, let me know.
kk

[Captain_Meh]

Beets. Bears. Battlestar Galactica.

[veliger]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joelcolorado', 'I') remember my father inlaw telling of the sugar beets in western kansas and eastern colorado. There are lots of old abandoned sugar factories out there still.

Does anyone know why they quit producing thatway? I know its probably due to cheap sugar cane overseas. That is a given. But now with the need for sugar for a fuel source, is that a market that can be used again.

I have no idea the tonnage per acre on this. If any of you are smart enough to figure it out, let me know.
kk

[Confirmed]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('veliger', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joelcolorado', 'I') remember my father inlaw telling of the sugar beets in western kansas and eastern colorado. There are lots of old abandoned sugar factories out there still.

Does anyone know why they quit producing thatway? I know its probably due to cheap sugar cane overseas. That is a given. But now with the need for sugar for a fuel source, is that a market that can be used again.

I have no idea the tonnage per acre on this. If any of you are smart enough to figure it out, let me know.
kk

[pedalling_faster]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Confirmed', 'J')oel from colorado you have entered this plaintive with a false assumption, that sugar beets have value as a fuel source.

[IslandCrow]

You are in trouble:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')US sugar supplies 'running out'

A number of large US food manufacturers have called on the government to ease sugar import limits, saying they fear the country could run out of supplies.

The letter from firms such as Kraft Food and Hershey comes in the week sugar prices have hit 28 year highs due to worldwide supply shortages.

[mattduke]

Here we go again. Jimmie Rogers was right.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he soaring price of sugar has given U.S. food producers a sour feeling. They're warning that a sugar shortage might be in store unless the government lowers trade tariffs on sugar. That would allow them to buy it from overseas for cheaper. I wouldn't count on it.

[anador]

I don't think it would be such a bad thing if "luxury" items like candy and ice cream saw price increases. Sugar has been so cheap for so long, a decrease in sugar availability in America won't exactly be detrimental to most people "healthwise that is"

Also the really important consumer goods that contain sugar and are not luxury goods like non-soda beverages, breads, and cereals contain a relatively small percentage of sugar to the other ingredients, hopefully their prices would not be as affected.

I just don't see how the situation is one to really panic over... it may really suck if it gets bad enough, but few people will have their daily lives derailed by a shortage.

[cualcrees]

Here in Mexico I bought a 10 kg. package of sugar a few months ago at my local Sam's club for about 90 pesos (7 or 8 dollars); a couple of weeks ago i went back for more and the cost had gone up to around 130 pesos (11 bucks or so). All in all it was a 40% increase!

[Tyler_JC]

Still only 22 cents a pound on the "world market".



We aren't even close to the nominal price peaks of the 1970s, let alone the real price peak. We would need to see 60 cent/pound or higher in order to break the 1974 level.

Moreover, sugar is a heavily regulated commodity. Tariffs, quotas, and other trade barriers inhibit market forces from properly managing the sugar industry.

Ever wonder why they use corn syrup instead of sugar to make Coca-Cola?

There's an import quota of 1.5 million tons a year in the USA. For comparison's sake, the total world consumption is well over 100 million tons so America is only allowed to import about 1% of the world's sugar.

The History of U.S. Sugar Protection

I could go on for pages, but let me summarize it to say the global sugar industry is seriously screwed up.

While it makes for an interesting headline, problems with the sugar supply aren't a symptom of anything other than heavy-handed government manipulation.

[smallpoxgirl]

Halelujah!

In health terms, only to a spike in tobacco prices could possibly be more helpful.