Keep it Sweet on National Ag Day

Today we celebrate National Ag Day, a day dedicated to honoring the hardworking farm families who help feed our families. We’d like to shine a spotlight on a few of the more than 11,000 sugarbeet and sugarcane farmers who help keep it sweet in America.

More than 75 sugar producers recently visited Capitol Hill to share the stories behind their multi-generational family farms and farmer owned-cooperatives, and employee-owned or family-owned businesses. They talked about how sugar production creates good jobs in their rural communities and more than $23 billion in annual economic impact, the conservation practices they’ve implemented to keep their farms sustainable for future generations, and their pride in producing an essential food ingredient.

In fact, our farmers fulfill around 70% of our domestic sugar supply needs. That’s sugar made from crops grown right here in America and critical to our national food security.

None of this would be possible without a strong U.S. sugar policy. Designed to cost taxpayers absolutely nothing, U.S. sugar policy allows American farmers and sugar producers to survive amid a global market awash with highly-subsidized sugar – while keeping it sweet right here at home with fully stocked shelves of sugar.

As we also celebrate the first day of spring, and a new growing season, we are thankful that our farmers can rely on bipartisan and bicameral support for a strong U.S. sugar policy in the Farm Bill.

Take a moment to meet a few of our farmers and click on each photo to watch a short video explaining what sugar policy means to them and their family farms: