4/28/2010:
Sugar: the sweetener of kings. Today that slogan is perhaps a little outdated. The sparkly white substance is easily obtained with spare change or even free with a cup of coffee. However, this sweet situation was not always the case. For centuries, sugar was only available to the wealthy; an expensive luxury few could readily afford. However, things slowly began to change during the nineteenth century as new and more efficient ways of producing sugar were developed and the increased supply steadily decreased the cost. One of the major reasons for this price drop was the development of the sugar beet. While many may people associate sugar with sugarcane, over one-third of the world's sugar supply is actually derived from beets.
The modern sugar beet found its beginnings in 1747 when Prussian scientist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf discovered he could extract sugar from beets that was identical to the sweetener found in sugarcane. However, the benefits from Marggraf's discovery would not be seized upon until after his death, when his student, Franz Karl Achard, picked up on Marggraf's work.
Franz Karl Achard, father of the modern sugar beet, was born on this date in 1753. A true renaissance man, Achard exhibited brilliance in a variety of fields, excelling in the study of meteorology, telegraphy and electrical theory. However, he is best remembered for making sugar from beets economically viable. After years of experimentation, Achard finally succeeded in producing large quantities of sugar from what are now known as ‘sugar beets.' Achard's publication of his results caused great alarm among Europe's sugarcane producers, prompting members of the British sugarcane lobby to offer him a bribe to renounce his findings. Achard refused, and sugar beet factories popped up throughout Europe during the Napoleonic wars as British blockades prevented the importation of sugarcane from the West Indies.
But the high times were not to last. Following the defeat of Napoleon, the British blockade ended and the reintroduction of sugarcane lowered the price of sugar in Europe to a point that its production using beets became economically untenable. Despite the setback, the development of large scale sugar beet production continued. By the late nineteenth century, persistent experimentation resulted in better sugar beet varieties and better factory designs; once again making sugar beet production financially attractive. Production increased throughout the twentieth century, and today the United States is the third largest sugar beet producer in the world with over half of the country's sugar made from sugar beets.
North Dakota farmers are amongst the top growers in the nation, producing nearly seven hundred thousand tons of sugar annually. Their hard work not only keeps the cost of sugar in the supermarkets down, it also provides income to thousands of people throughout the state. And it all was possible because of the work of Franz Achard and his fascination with beets.
Dakota Datebook written by Lane Sunwall
Sources
"Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie," Bavarian State Library Digital Library http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/bsb00008359/images/index.html (accessed April 19, 2010).
American Sugarbeet Growers Association, "Sugarbeet History" http://www.americansugarbeet.org/index.asp?bid=89 (accessed April 19, 2010).
Das Zucker-Museum, "History" http://www.sdtb.de/History.1278.0.html (accessed April 19, 2010).
Encyclopedia Britannica, "Sugar Beet," Encyclopedia Britannica Online http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/571957/sugar-beet (accessed April 19, 2010).
"Major Food and Agricultural Commodities and Producers," Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations http://www.fao.org/es/ess/top/commodity.html;jsessionid=7D4168246A5D1FF8C231EC8F2C488133?lang=en&item=157&year=2005 (accessed April 23, 2010).
United States Department of Agriculture, "U.S. Sugar Supply and Use" http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/sugar/data.htm (accessed April 19, 2010).