One producer near Taber was averaging 45 tons of beets per acre. The crop is reliant on irrigation and despite the dry conditions this summer, there was enough water to go around. Jennifer Crowson is the executive director of the Alberta Sugar Beets Growers. She says there is so much potential for this crop in Canada, but there are a number of factors standing in the way of that growth. One of those factors is something called a domestic sugar policy, which would put the emphasis back on the production of sugar beets in Canada. instead of relying on cane sugar from other parts of the world.
"What we have is duopoly. So basically, there's two refines of sugars in Canada, one is Lantic and the other is Redpath. Redpath is all cane (sugar). Lantic has three plants, Vancouver, Taber, and Montreal, two are cane and one is beet (sugar). Beet sugar is only produced in Southern Alberta. One of our limitations is that we are a quota managed crop, however, each year Lantic will tell us how many acres we can grow. Our permanent quota is 33,895 (acres) and typically we get a reduction between 17 to 20 percent year over year. Going into the 2024 season, they've indicated that they'll probably take 28,000 acres of beets grown."
Crowson notes that there are a couple of factors for the quota and reductions. One, is the limitation on production at the Taber plant. The second is the lack of storage for beets over the winter. Crowson and the producers would love to see another sugar company set up shop in Southern Alberta that would give them the opportunity to increase production. The beet sugar production is only 8 percent of the sugar produced in Canada and Crowson believes that we beet growers should be producing more than 8 percent in the future.
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