SUGAR FROM BEETS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 125, 29 May 1942, Page 4

SUGAR FROM BEETS

The failure of New Zealand to produce sugar from beets- must be puzzling to many. I was in MidCanterbury a few years ago when sugar beet production was being seriously discussed. My recollection from that discussion is that beets of high sugar content can be grown that a proposed factory must have a guarantee from farmers over a rather large area to produce each year the minimum quantity of beets required to make the factory economical, and that the price per ton which the factory will pay is a crucial item in the arrangements. I believe Waikato conditions favour sugar beet production. Tests have shown that most sugar is formed in the last slow months of growth, necessitating early sowing and a manure which acts quickly, but not during the later period of growth. The beet is really a small variety of mangold rich in sugar. It is harvested by a special plough, and it could be planted by machine. At the factory the beets are washed and crushed, and the juice goes through processes wnich yield first a sticky mass, and finally a crystallised material which can be refined by the ordinary methods of sugar refineries. The refuse is good cow fodder. The points at issue then are: Adequate and suitable area, a bond between farmers and factory, and a price satisfactory to both sides. Tfte difficulty of obtaining machinery, mentioned in recent news, does not seem to come into the picture in a country that can make a war tank. ARTHUR SAINSBURY.