Science: Beet Seed Split

Sugar beets were big news last week−;under the heads of science, business and politics. Beets might long ago have supplied the U.S. with all the sugar it needs but for one stubborn fact−sugar-beet seeds grow in clusters. From the clustered seeds grow clustered plants, which must be thinned by hand. The enormous labor required has given the production advantage to sugar cane and made the beet-sugar industry a notoriously uneconomic enterprise, heavily subsidized by low wages and high tariffs. Supporting this $100,000,000 industry has cost the U.S. people about $300,000,000 a year in...

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