SUGAR-BEET INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES 
ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SUGAR-BEET INDUSTRY IN THE 
UNITED STATES 
In 1926, sugar beets were harvested from 687,000 acres in the 
United States. The leading States in the production of sugar beets 
are Colorado, Michigan, Utah, Nebraska, California, Idaho, and 
Ohio. The beet-growing territory of the country is naturally divided 
by somewhat distinct cultural conditions into three sections—the 
Central State region, containing approximately 30 per cent of the 
total acreage; the Mountain State region, containing about 60 per 
cent; and the California area, containing 10 per cent. The Central 
State region is almost entirely dependent upon rainfall for moisture, 
while the larger part of the crop that is grown in the western region 
is provided with irrigation. The total acreage of sugar beets har- 
vested in the United States has increased from 530,000 acres in 1922 
to 687,000 acres in 1926. During the same period exceptionally bad 
weather and the spread of diseases, were influential in causing a 
decrease in the acreage planted to sugar cane in continental United 
States from 241,000 acres to 160,000 acres, so that the acreage in 
sugar cane is now less than one-fourth that in sugar beets. A more 
definite idea of the extent of the crop may be ubtained by comparing 
it with other crops that are similar in acreage and in value. Sugar 
beets occupy about the same acreage as buckwheat, rice, sweet 
potatoes, or peanuts. A simple comparison of acreage, however, 
loes not afford an adequate measure of the relative importance of 
the crop. Because of its high value per acre ($72 per acre harvested 
in 1925) the farm value of the sugar-beet crop, amounting to $47,- 
000,000 in 1925, approximated that of the flaxseed crop, although 
over 3,000,000 acres were devoted to the latter. Sugar-beet acreage 
equaled in 1925 about 114 per cent of the wheat acreage but the farm 
value of the crop equaled about 5 per cent of that of the wheat crop. 
In Table 1 there is shown the acreage of sugar beets planted and 
harvested in the principal producing States and in the United States 
as a whole during the period 1921-1926. Throughout this period 
the largest acreage in any of the Western States was harvested in 
Colorado and the largest acreage in the eastern producing region 
in Michigan. Although there was considerable fluctuation annually 
in the quantity of sugar beets harvested in the individual States, 
with the exception of one year the quantity harvested in the United 
States was remarkably uniform, varying from 7,400,000 to 7,800,000 
short tons. The total farm value of the United States sugar-beet 
crop during these six years varied from $41,000,000 to $63,000,000 
annually,