Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
any potential source of confusion about data.
3.1.
Sugar Beet in 2012
Table 1 shows harvested area, quantity and yield Y
16%
for each major producer in 2012
according to the statistic department of FAO (FAO STAT). Mass corresponds to washed
beet root.
Table 1. Production of sugar beet in 2012 for the world and major producing countries
2012
world
EU 27
France
Russia
USA
Ukraine
China
Area Mha
4.9
1.66
0.39
1.10
0.49
0.45
0.24
Harvest Mt
16%
270
116
33.7
45.0
31.9
18.4
11.5
t
·
(ha
·
y)
−
1
Yield Y
16%
55.0
69.6
86.5
40.9
65.5
41.1
48.7
Not indicated by the service - at least not obviously - the harvests are normalized at
the same standard sugar content of 16% (see appendix of CGB annual reports [3] and the
official documents about the methodology to collect data on the French agriculture produc-
tions [5]).
The conversion from the actual yield
Y
A
depends on the true content of total
recoverable sugar TRS according to the formula:
T RS
(%)
−
3
13
Y
16%
=
Y
A
(1)
This conversion allows to compare beet yields between countries and over time at same
sugar content, although it slightly overestimates high yields. It may induce some confusion
when reporting the ethanol yield from a tonne of beet at the factory. As the mass balance is
usually made with beets as received, for which sugar content T RS is very often higher than
16% [2], using the standard yield Y
16%
instead of Y
A
can result in overestimates of ethanol
yields per unit of area or unit of harvested quantity.
Table 1 shows that major producers are located, or at least partly, in temperate areas.
Sugar beet needs a mild and humid climate. The main culture area in France is located at
the north of the country.
Among the main producers, France presents the highest yield, which is still rising as
observed in Fig. 3, notwithstanding the fluctuations from year to year due to meteorological
conditions. Since the mid nineties the world averaged yield Y
16%
has also increased steadily
from about 33 to 55 t
·
(ha
·
y)
−
1
. It permits to maintain a certain level of production at 250+/-
20 Mt
16%
despite that the harvested area has diminished by more than 40% during the same
period.
There is a general push to improve beet productivity, starting with its agriculture yield.
As already said, the beet must compete with its tropical counterpart - the cane - for a market
- the sugar one - more and more liberalized. In 2017 all subsidies to protect sugar beet in
European Union should be removed [3].
