Key Elements of U.S. Sugar Policy in the 2008 Farm Bill

Jack Roney, Director of Economics and Policy Analysis speaks to the ISO

December 1, 2008 - With the enthusiastic support of U.S. sugar farmers, Congress overwhelmingly passed a Farm Bill in 2008 that will give American sugar producers a chance to survive. It provides USDA with an additional tool to manage excess supplies caused by imports – a standby sucrose-ethanol program that could also help reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, at minimal taxpayer cost. The Farm Bill also phases in over the next three years a 4% increase in the U.S. support price, the first such increase since 1985. The attached page provides the key elements of the new sugar policy.

Symposium

Audio & Video

Jack Roney on Fox Business

Factors Driving the Sugar Market: Jack Roney of the American Sugar Alliance on the commodity's banner year last year and where prices are headed.
Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida
Learn how sugar is grown, harvested, milled and refined.

Sugarbeet Grower Alan Welp Tells the Tale of Two Intertwined Industries
Western Sugar, a company now owned by farmers, closed its Goodland, Kansas sugarbeet factory in 1985. Sugar prices were low, the cost of doing business was climbing, and tough decisions were made that hurt workers and farmers. Today, thanks to no-cost sugar policy, things have turned around, and business is now booming for confectionery manufacturers. Sugarbeet grower and Western Sugar Cooperative member Alan Welp discusses.