Would a Spoonful of Sugar Help: Is Competition Structure in the U.S. Sugar Beet Sector Changing?

Concentration in the U.S. sugar industry was highlighted when the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sued to stop the United States Sugar Corporation from acquiring the sugar assets of the Louis Dreyfus Co. (a.k.a. Imperial Sugar Company) in 2021. This EBOT—the second in a series—outlines the geographic and firm-level structure of the U.S. sugar beet growing and processing sectors. Based on loan activity, sugar beets are among the leading U.S. government supported commodities; thus, the farm structure of sugar beet production is compared to corn and soybean production which are also among the leading supported commodities based on USDA reported loan activity.