Some corn producers are concerned about the potential decision
A potential move by a soft drink manufacturer could affect farmers of different crops.
President Donald Trump announced on July 16 through his Truth Social account that he’s “been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so.”
Farms.com has contacted Coca-Cola for comment on this claim.
Soft drink makers like Coca-Cola started to replace cane sugar with high-fructose corn syrup in their products in 1980 before completely transitioning in 1984.
In 2023, 410 million bushels of U.S. corn ended up as high-fructose corn syrup, the U.S. Department of Energy says.
For context, farmers in Kentucky and Louisiana produced just about 400 million bushels of corn combined that year.
Members of the corn sector are concerned about this potential move.
The Corn Refiners Association, for example, is confused at the notion.
“Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar doesn’t make sense. President Trump stands for American manufacturing jobs, American farmers, and reducing the trade deficit,” the organization’s CEO, John Bode, said in a statement. “Replacing high fructose corn syrup with cane sugar would cost thousands of American food manufacturing jobs, depress farm income, and boost imports of foreign sugar, all with no nutritional benefit.”
And ag economists say removing this market from producers could depress prices.
"To sort of pull the rug out of corn sweeteners right now is going to create a more significant downturn in pricing," Chad Hart, an ag economist at Iowa State, told We Are Iowa. "As you look over the past couple of years, corn prices have fallen about 30 to 40%, and so you're just adding on top of those losses by seeing a setback here."
On the other side of the equation are sugar cane farmers.
Producers are excited about any opportunity to find new markets for their crop and showcase local agriculture.
“This is truly a Louisiana crop. These are varieties developed here at research stations in Louisiana. They’re grown by Louisiana family farms,” Patrick Frischertz, a sugar cane and soybean farmer, told WAFB. “It’s milled. It’s refined in Louisiana and then sold out into the US. So, it’s something that we’re really proud of. And I mean, for the state, it could potentially be a great thing.”