Sugar Beet

Sugar beet, a cultivated plant of Beta vulgaris, is a plant whose tuber contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production. Sugar beets and other B. vulgaris cultivars such as beetroot and chard share a common wild ancestor, the sea beet (Beta vulgaris maritima).

In 2009, France, the United States, Germany, Russia and Turkey were the world's five largest sugar beet producers. Despite the sugar beet harvest, in 2010-2011, North America, Western Europe and Eastern Europe did not produce enough sugar from sugar beet; these regions were all net importers of sugar. The U.S. harvested 1,004,600 acres (4 065 km²) of sugarbeets in 2008. In 2009, sugar beet accounted for 20 percent of the world's sugar production.