Farm economy and sugar policy experts discussed the challenges facing the U.S. sugar industry at the American Sugar Alliance’s 40th annual meeting. Farmers’ operating margins are getting squeezed by falling revenue and persistently high input costs. “U.S. farmers have been dealing with historic inflation,” said Dr. John Newton, Executive Head at Terrain. “Farm production expenses have increased by more than $100 billion since 2018, and every single category is more expensive today than only five or six years ago.” While expenses are staying high, commodity prices are falling. In only two years, prices for sugarbeet and sugarcane farmers have fallen by 26 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Those prices continue to fall as foreign nations subsidize their own domestic industries and are expected to dump near-record amounts of sugar on the world market. “A robust sugar industry is critical to supporting rural economies,” said Dr. Rob Johansen of the American Sugar Alliance.
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