Los Banos Rotary Club History
Sees Sugar Beets As Coming Crop

Possibilities of a new and important crop, sugar beets, was outlined to members of the Los Banos Rotary Club Tuesday noon by Charles A. Lavis, district manager of the Holly Sugar Corporation, Stockton. With California’s sugar factories now operating at only about 40 per cent capacity, and with an estimated 60 per cent sugar shortage throughout the world, Lavis said that sugar beets could be depended upon as a safe, dependable and profitable crop for at least the next several years.

Lavis discounted rumors of a false sugar shortage, pointing out that much of our former source of supply is now non-existent or operating at only a fraction of capacity. The Philippine Islands sugar plantations were totally destroyed by the Japs and the refineries scrapped for their metal; the Hawaiian sugar plantations were largely neglected and have been plagued by labor strikes; labor trouble and material shortages have also reduced the output in Cuba and Porto Rico, and the sugar beet sections of central Europe have not yet come back into production. Lavis said it will be at least ten years before world sugar production approaches demand.

Before that time, Lavis said, he is hopeful that government economists will realize that America can and should become self-sufficient in sugar supply and at the same time equalize its agricultural structure by diverting farm land to sugar beet production that would otherwise be planted to commodities that are in surplus.

Previous to the war large acreages of California farm land were in sugar beets but through the war years many growers turned to other crops which, due to unusual market conditions, brought much greater profits. Sugar beet growing, the speaker emphasized, is not a get-rich scheme by any means, but should be considered a safe and dependable crop on which a fair return is always insured. Production cost in recent years has been lowered considerably by introduction of mechanized planters, cultivators and harvesters, which increases the net acre return to the grower. Much of the hard work has been taken out of the crop and today, farmers will find it no more difficult to grow than any other row crop.

Diseases and pests, of which the beet leaf hopper has been the worst offender, has also been controlled by a collective campaign by all sugar companies together with the University of California. It was found that the Russian thistle was the primary host plant for the beet hopper, and this plant that has been largely eliminated as the result of an intensive ten-year campaign.

Commenting on the quality of beet sugar, Lavis stated that contrary to old belief, there is no chemical difference between cane and beet sugar and that it is impossible to tell the difference. As proof he cited the fact that candy, jelly and fruit manufacturers now take practically the entire U. S. beet sugar output, because of the 10c per 100 lb. saving under cane sugar.

January 21, 1947

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