Boise’s Amalgamated Sets Sugar-Making Record, Credits Genetic Modification, Breeding

Boise’s Amalgamated Sets Sugar-Making Record, Credits Genetic Modification, Breeding

By: Zach Kyle, Idaho Statesman
April 25, 2017

Amalgamated Sugar Co, the company that buys all of the sugar beets grown in Idaho, has just finished processing the 2016 crop and says it will result in a record 2.34 billion pounds of sugar.

The growers harvested a record 7.2 million tons despite harvesting 2,000 fewer acres than in 2015, according to the University of Idaho. Idaho sugar beet revenues are estimated to increase by 2% from a year earlier.

Amalgamated President and CEO John McCreedy attributed the record production to seeds that are genetically modified to resist pesticides, improved breeding techniques that have increased beets’ sugar content, and improving factory efficiency.

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