The American Sugar Industry and its Alternative Competitors: Economic, Political, and Humanitarian Impetus
The premise of
this dissertation is to understand the economic, political, and humanitarian
aspects of sugar competitors both traditional and artificial in American
sweetener markets. The economic factors include government subsidies, supply and
demand impacted by international and domestic competition, technological
advancements, environmental regulation, labor and production cost, and consumer
trends. The sugar industry in America is only another chapter in the commodity’s
history. Europeans had been enjoying sugar as a luxury product for centuries
prior to its introduction to American farming and production. The industry has
significance in American slavery in the South, imperialism in American
territories, and in the last century sugar has significant ties to
environmental concerns in Florida. Alternatives like sugar beets are an
imported product with less history than sugar itself but is nonetheless
significant to German and French immigrants who planted it in American soil.
Artificial sweeteners derived from chemical sources or plant sources like high
fructose corn syrup, saccharin and many others are more modern in development,
but are important for study due to their health considerations, history in
products like Diet Coke or other low-calorie sweets, and their impact as a competitor
for natural sugar markets. The history of American sugar begins in the late
1700s, is overhauled with the abolition of slavery, evolves in the early to
mid-1900s due to international conflict and the development of artificial
sweeteners. Sugar is deeply tied to the history of slavery in America, American
business history, and political history.
This dissertation aligns
with broad historical surveys which recount the history of sugar but stands
apart in its comparisons of natural and artificial sweeteners. Additionally,
this work will endeavor to understand and analyze the significance of sugar in
American history and uncover the place and purpose of alternative markets. In
previous work, the subject of the sugar market’s impact on foreign and domestic
markets through the examination of American sugar policy and NAFTA heavily
influenced this work. Additionally, scholarly work produced pertaining to the
history of the Hershey company influenced the trajectory of this dissertation. This
extended project will lean heavily on archival research and utilize the
archives of state and historical societies in key states as well as university
and government agency archives. Other methodologies like that of economic, environmental,
and socio-cultural histories will be employed. The work will also be utilizing
a comparative and quantitative approach, comparing traditional and artificial sweetener
industries allows for deeper understanding in the industry’s role in American
politics, health, and economics.
Statistical and
archival research is vital to understanding the economic growth of the sugar
industry via production output and consumption records through the last two and
a half centuries. This dissertation will utilize statistical data from
government agencies like the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA),
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Other
documents including primary sources from digital archives include newspapers,
speeches from independent sugar organizations like the American Sugar Alliance,
Sugar Association, and U.S. Sugar. Beyond statistics, photographs will be
utilized as well as monographs written by individuals assessing the sugar
industry from different eras in history, cookbooks, and medical journals. Statistical
analysis from assorted government agencies provides greater insight into the
growth of the sugar industry, its competitors, and the corresponding impact of
specific policies on the growth and production of these products.
Some cliometrics techniques will be
utilized due to the amount of statistical information being utilized throughout
the dissertation as cliometrics is a strong method for applying economic theory
and quantitative technique to better understand historical events. In addition
to the use of cliometric techniques, comparative institutional analysis of natural
and artificial sweeteners will be analyzed to clarify the market interactions
of both industries. Policy history is equally as important in connecting the
impact of specific policies and the role of interest groups in industry practices.
Through archival research and document analysis, landscapes significant to the
sweetener industry, such as the Everglades in Florida, can be reconstructed to
shape arguments used by environmentalists regarding the degradation of natural
resources and track historical changes in industry practices.
To
countless Americans, sugar is central to their diets and to others it is a
treat that takes innumerable forms significant to childhood memories or their
daily lives. The history of sweeteners touches countless subject areas
including business history, political and economic, international, and cultural
histories. The field pertains to macro and micro histories from individual
families or sugar magnates to large groups both marginalized and elite. While
the history of this subject can be as sweet as the product itself, the history
can also tell a story of hurt and inequality. Regardless of the path taken by
scholars in the field, all scholarship pertaining to sugar and other sweeteners
is critical and thankfully, continuously growing.
Image 1 citation: Detroit Publishing Co., Publisher, Jackson, William Henry, photographer. Cutting sugar cane in Louisiana. Louisiana Baton Rouge United States, None. [Between 1880 and 1897] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016817573/.
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