NORTH DAKOTA
SUGAR INDUSTRY
142,000
31,000

TERMINOLOGY
BEET SUGAR
Sugar that is processed directly or indirectly from sugar beets, sugar beet molasses or in-process beet sugar
CANE SUGAR
Sugar derived directly or indirectly from sugarcane, including sugarcane molasses
RAW SUGAR
Any sugar not suitable for human consumption without further refinement
REFINING FACILITY
Facility that processes raw sugar or imported molasses into refined sugar
LEARN MORE
The average sugar beet weighs 2 lbs. and contains 5 oz. of sugar. It takes 40 2 lb. beets to make a 10 lb. bag of sugar. Sugar has 15 calories per teaspoon. Sugar generates $20 billion in economic activity for the U.S. Over 1 ton of sugar is produced per minute. 120 countries produce sugar. Sugar prices in the US are lower today than 30 yrs ago, yet the price of a candy bar has increased 300% over that time. Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative tare lab analyzes up to 55,000 sugar beet samples per harvest. MDFC processes up to 12,000 tons of beets per day and produces 3,500,000 pounds of sugar per day.