A Lot of Fighting Words Over “Sugar”
We ran across this article on the continued fight between the makers of “natural” sugar (i.e. from cane and beets) and “corn sugar”. The corn processing industry has tried to change the official name of their product from high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to “corn sugar”. The perception is that the word sugar has a better name than HFCS since most of the media appears to be blaming pop containing HFCS for causing most of us to get too fat.
A couple of years ago several “natural” sugar farmers brought a suit against the major corn refiners alleging their product is the real sugar and corn syrup could not be considered sugar.
The judge has ruled that their suit has merit and can proceed forward. In response, the corn refiners (primarily Cargill, ADM, Tate & Lyle and Ingredion (the old Corn Products company) filed a countersuit alleging that the “natural” sugar lobby has harmed their business and reputation.
I am not a chemist, but I can see both sides of the case. Although “natural” sugar comes from beets and cane, I have toured a sugar cane plant and their is a lot of work involved in “processing” the cane into sugar. If this still means the sugar is natural, then I can see how the corn industry could argue that “processing” corn is no different than processing cane or beets.
However, in processing cane into sugar involves simply crushing and splitting the cane until the final sugar comes out. There is no chemical separation like there may be with “corn sugar”.
Again, it is an interesting article to read and sugar does not always make the medicine go down.
Paul Neiffer, CPA
Paul Neiffer is a certified public accountant and business advisor specializing in income taxation, accounting services, and succession planning for farmers and agribusiness processors. Paul is a principal with CliftonLarsonAllen in Walla Walla, Washington, as well as a regular speaker at national conferences and contributor at agweb.com. Raised on a farm in central Washington, he has been immersed in the ag industry his entire life, including the last 30 years professionally. Paul and his wife purchase an 180 acre ranch in 2016 and enjoy keeping it full of animals.
Very nice blog on the article. And each side has a great argument. Being a sugarcane farmer, I believe that our industry is fighting the corn industry, because we are trying to maintain our current prices. By allowing the corn industry to change its name from HFCS to “corn sugar,” then the perception of our product could change and negatively affect the prices for “real sugar”. We will see how this plays out and see what happens.