What would you do with a pile of sugar so big it would fill
up the New Orleans Arena 10 times?
That's the question facing the federal government, which over the past six
months has taken possession of more than 1 million tons of sugar for which
it has no use.
The feds anticipate getting rid of nearly a third of the pile by giving
it to sugar beet farmers who volunteer to plow up part of their acreage.
But finding a use for the remaining 700,000-plus tons may be more
problematic.
"We've got a number of options, but we have no plans to use any of
them at this time," said Dan Colacicco, a policy analyst with the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
One potential use for the sugar would be to sell it to be refined into
the gasoline additive ethanol, an idea refiners like.
But corn growers, who fiercely guard the ethanol market, don't like
that idea, particularly because the price of corn has fallen even more
steeply than that of sugar in recent years.
Others have theorized that the sugar could be given away as food aid to
a poor country.
But sugar is of dubious nutritional value. And by giving it away, the
government would absorb a loss of at least $300 million for the value of
the sugar, not counting the costs of packaging and shipping.
Some sugar producers have suggested that the government hang onto the
sugar until the domestic price rises and then sell it for a profit.
But that idea has pitfalls, too. For one, the feds are paying about $2
million per month to warehouse the sugar. And holding onto it for a long
time seems foolish.
Also, many sugar farmers fear that if the government holds the sugar
with the intention of eventually introducing it into the market, the price
may stagnate.
Some think the government just needs to get rid of the stuff --
somewhere, somehow.
"I think they need to get it out of here," Minnesota beet
farmer Kurt Sogn said. "Otherwise, everything they've done is for
naught." |