#sugar beets

[welldigger62]

How sugar is made in Michigan

I got a chance to drive by the sugar manufacturing plant in Bay City Michigan today. Here are some pics from my trip.

Here is the name of the place where table sugar is made.

Trucks like this bring in the sugar beets from all over the area to be unloaded and piled up.

This shows the unloading. The beets are piled up here at the plant and at other remote locations. The beets at the remote places are gradually moved here to the processing plant over the winter.

There are several mountains of beets here. I would guess that these are about 25 feet high.

It was still pretty dark and cloudy today. I hope you can see enough detail here. As the beets cook down, sometimes it stinks.

It will take all the way into the spring to process these.

[popcorncoy0te]

a idea for a new crop. a sugar beet that could be found in woolen mansions. The benefit to the sugar beet is that it grows faster than sugar cane.

[haveyouatethisvegetable]

have you ever eaten a sugar beet?

yes, and I enjoyed it

yes, and I didn't like it

no

I haven't heard of sugar beets

Voting ended onJan 30, 2024

[hydrogenperfoxide]

If you know me at all, you'll know that I get excited over extremely strange and obscure things. And so here's what has me right now: SUGAR BEETS

Sugar beets are basically just beets that have very high sugar contents. The Netherlands gets a good portion of its sugar specifically from sugar beets, which I think is way cooler than corn.

The sugar in sugar beets diminishes really fast after harvesting though so they have to refine it within just a few days of harvest!!

Okay but here's something really fun, if you don't know, farmers will compete on just about anything. Prettiest cow? sure! (my mom participated in that). Best pie? of course! But for this post I wanna talk about biggest beet! (or in this case grootste suikerbiet because dutch)

In 2020 in North Holland (a province) a farmer harvested a 51.8 kg (114 lb) sugar beet, that year's record largest beet. source: https://www.nhnieuws.nl/nieuws/275839/geen-bietenbal-wel-een-wereldkampioen-arjen-hamers-teelt-voederbiet-van-52-kilo

But as massive as that thing is, that's not even the all time record. The all time record is 71.2 kilos (156.97 lb), harvested in 2005. Sadly though i haven't been able to find an image or an article talking about this beyond the mention in the source.

Chances are, i'll post about the 2021 harvest because I think about this at least once every few months. So stay tuned for dutch sugar beet records i guess lol source: https://www.nhnieuws.nl/nieuws/275839/geen-bietenbal-wel-een-wereldkampioen-arjen-hamers-teelt-voederbiet-van-52-kilo

[mostly-history]

Tractor-drivers sow sugar beets in Kirghizia (now Kyrgyzstan, August 26th, 1942).

[1900scartoons]

Adding Insult to Injury

April 25th, 1902

The sugar beet is planted on the grave of (Cuban) reciprocity. 

The caption reads “Reciprocity Dead and Buried With the Sugar Beet Planted On Its Grave.”

Congress had a rejected a trade reciprocity agreement with Cuba as it would damage the American Sugar Beet industry with the influx of Cane Sugar.

See Also: Tariffs

From Hennepin County Library

Original available at: https://digitalcollections.hclib.org/digital/collection/Bart/id/4812/rec/105

[welldigger62]

More Sugar Info -

You guys getting sick of this yet? 😂

Here 👆 is what ONE sugar beet looks like. 😮

Those large trucks in this area take them here 👆

This is the sugar processing plant in Bay City Michigan. This company was founded in 1906. If you are dying to know more 😂, Google has more info. Thousands of acres of sugar beets are planted here yearly. 😮

[welldigger62]

More Sugar Beet Action-

Here it shows 👆the tractor pulling the machine that digs out the sugar beets. Some of the dirt is shaken off and they are lifted up and dropped on the conveyor arm you see above the truck.

The pic above 👆shows beets with the tops still on, next to a strip where they have been topped and dug out.

The last picture shows the tractor and truck headed back the other way. The two drive at the same speed as they go down the row. As the truck fills, they will make position adjustments. You can see the beets dropping off the conveyor and into the truck.

These are processed into granulated table sugar.