California Farmers Turn Sugar Beets Into Energy
By Lesley McClurg
Posted January 22nd, 2015 by Capital Public Radio
Struggling sugar beet farmers in the San Joaquin Valley are turning their crop into energy instead of sweetener. A cooperative of nine sugar beet farmers just opened a demonstration biorefinery south of Fresno.
They’re called “energy beets.” They look like a red table beet, but they’re larger, white and very high in sucrose. Sugar beets in California date back to the late 1800’s. In fact they’ve been grown longer in the state than anywhere in the world. But, due to low sugar prices, sugar beets are no longer a viable crop. At one time there was twelve processing plants in California and today there is only one.
However, “energy beets” could keep farmers in business.
According to Steve Kaffka, the director of the California Biomass Collaborative, sugar is an excellent energy source that requires very little sophisticated technology to convert it into ethanol…