That study—conducted by LMC International, a renowned global commodity research firm from England—was an update of an earlier report that showed a vibrant sugar industry in 1993/94, which boasted nearly 248,000 jobs and $10 billion in annual economic impact.

 

“Sugar prices were so low between 1994 and 2008 that sugar-producing companies were forced to close 37 beet or cane mills across the country,” said Jack Roney, an economist with the American Sugar Alliance (ASA).

 

The good news, says Roney, is that the job loss problem appears to have corrected itself for now, thanks in part to the no-cost sugar policy enacted by Congress in 2008.

 

Under that policy, fewer sugar factories have closed than during any period in the last 20 years. Maintaining multiple suppliers and competitors means great service and pricing for industrial users and consumers, he noted.

 

The ASA recently compiled a list of sugar facility closures under past Farm Bills.

 

The data show that closures soared to 19 during the 1996 Farm Bill but have dropped dramatically since, with two plant closures reported since passage of the 2008 Farm Bill. Other Farm Bills during the past 40 year period averaged about 11 plant closures each, still five times higher than under the current policy. In total, 103 sugar-producing facilities have closed since 1970.

 

The biggest decline in sugar facilities occurred under the 1977 Farm Bill, which had no sugar policy in some years.

 

"In rural areas where beets and cane are grown and processed, sugar jobs are the life blood of many communities. In urban areas where cane refineries are located, these good-paying jobs are crucial as well, especially in the tough economic situation the United States now finds itself in," Roney said.

 

Despite past plant closures, producers’ improved efficiency enabled them to sustain sugar production levels. According to LMC data, U.S. production of sugar per worker grew from 119 tons in 1993/94 to 216 tons in 2009/10, an 80 percent increase.

 

That makes U.S. sugar producers among the most efficient in the world, explained Roney, although he notes that without the no-cost policy efficient U.S. producers would be vulnerable to the heavily subsidized world dump market.

 

LMC examined the jobs associated directly with the planting, cultivating, and harvesting of sugarbeets and sugarcane, the processing of the beets and cane, and the refining of raw cane sugar. It then used U.S. Department of Commerce multipliers to estimate the number of indirect jobs the American sugar industry generates. Sugarbeets are grown in 11 states and sugarcane in four; there are cane refineries in six states.