# Sugar Prices



## lupester (Mar 12, 2008)

What happened to sugar. I just went by Aldi's and a 4 lb bag was $1.19. Time to load up for the fall?


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## Kingfisher Apiaries (Jan 16, 2010)

Wow..is that a sale? I need to get some if its the new price...I payed like 60 cents a pound a few weeks ago.
mike


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## mmiller (Jun 17, 2010)

That's a great price! Like Kingfisher, I pay about 60 cents a pound up here.

Mike


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## rtoney (Apr 20, 2011)

On sale here has been 1.99 for some time


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## TNBeek (May 21, 2011)

60 cents a pound in East TN too. Great deal, stock up!


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## jim314 (Feb 12, 2011)

Buy all you can at that price. I'm not seeing that price here and because of the drought they are sucking it down like crazy.


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## Scrapfe (Jul 25, 2008)

lupester said:


> What happened to sugar. I just went by Aldi's and a 4 lb bag was $1.19...


At the moment that is a very good price. 
At a 50% discount that is almost to good of a price to be a loss leader sale.
There may be structural changes happening in the sugar industry. Or.

Dare I suggest that the next Pres. election is underway and that certain parties are afraid that we frogs are beginning to feel the water heat up around us?


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## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

Same thing here in Eastern Canada. $1.99 for a 5lb bag...

Adam


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## lupester (Mar 12, 2008)

Sugar is nose diving.... http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=sugar&months=180


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## lupester (Mar 12, 2008)

Kingfisher....that is no sale just their regular advertised price.


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## Ron Mann (Jul 17, 2009)

lupester said:


> Sugar is nose diving.... http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=sugar&months=180


Good, I hope they pay us to take it off the shelves.

But in all seriousness, isn't the price affect ethanol production?


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## K.E.N. (May 5, 2011)

I thought I was doing good @ $13.00 and change for 25lb @ walmart About .56 per.


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## JRing (Jun 12, 2011)

Is it cane or beet sugar? I know I have read that cane sugar should only be used for feeding bees.


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## wkinne (Jul 17, 2010)

I no longer feed surgar made from sugar beets to my bees, neo-nics target mainly two markets, corn and sugar beets. I would like to see a study done on CCD to see if there is any connection, comercial beeks mix tons at a time, Sugar Cane does not use Neo-Nics.


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## JRing (Jun 12, 2011)

There is some thought, and maybe it was a study. I cannot remember at the moment, and if I find it I will post it here. That HFCS (High Frutose) does not allow the gentics of the bees to delevople properly or awaken at the right stage of life whic maybe causing CCD.


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

JRing said:


> That HFCS (High Frutose) does not allow the gentics of the bees to delevople properly or


Must be a lot of commercial bees with bad "Gentics" out there.


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## JRing (Jun 12, 2011)

hpm08161947 said:


> Must be a lot of commercial bees with bad "Gentics" out there.


That was the thought behind what I read, that CCD effected the commercial beekeeper more than hobby or small scale beekeeper. Because of the use of HFCS, now plain corn syrup is thought to be fine as it is not broken down like the HFCS is (like wkinne stated with the use of neo-nics), but this is just a theory.


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## Scrapfe (Jul 25, 2008)

lupester said:


> Sugar is nose diving.... http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=sugar&months=180


Cotton fell more than sugar , and many other other commodities listed in your link droped like a rock. Almost the only think that hasn't fallen or started siding since 01/01/2011 is hard wood logs, and gold. Indonisian Liquified Natural Gas is still up but it is going sideways. I suspect ILNG is traded in 90 day blocks or contracts so the end of this month should tell the tail on ILNG.

PS: Sun flower oil is still doing well so that should help those of you with hives near Sun flowers.


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## HONEYDEW (Mar 9, 2007)

I need to move, 5.49 a 5lb bag C&H here...


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

http://www.nextag.com/granulated-sugar/compare-html

Nextag is showing cane sugar at .60 a pound. I wouldn’t touch beet sugar or corn for my bees. Monsanto recently got their GMO beets approved so it makes sense that sugar will drop.


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## JRing (Jun 12, 2011)

HONEYDEW said:


> I need to move, 5.49 a 5lb bag C&H here...


Where do you live? It probably be cheaper I mailed you a 25# bag. lol
Im glad my bees are the only thing that uses sugar in my house. (I am trying to remove refined sugars(i.e. HFCS and related products) from my diet)


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## JRing (Jun 12, 2011)

Acebird said:


> http://www.nextag.com/granulated-sugar/compare-html
> 
> Nextag is showing cane sugar at .60 a pound. I wouldn’t touch beet sugar or corn for my bees. Monsanto recently got their GMO beets approved so it makes sense that sugar will drop.


We are going to kill ourselves with GMO products. What happened to natural selection and survival of the fitest? (I'm a God fearing man myself, but I do think things should evolve on there own to survive the next generation.)


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## K.E.N. (May 5, 2011)

I found 50lb sacks of pure cane sugar at webstaurantstore for $27.56 if you buy 150 bags at a time. $28.60 for 100 bags or 29.99 for less than 100 bags. 

www.webstaurantstore.com/granulated-pure-cane-sugar-50-lb/104SUGAR50.html


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## JRing (Jun 12, 2011)

At Walmart in my town, 25lb bag is $13.98 with 9.0% tax


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## K.E.N. (May 5, 2011)

Wal-mart sugar is from Mexico and is labeled pure sugar. That doesn't mean cane sugar according to what I've read about labeling. It could be a combination of beet sugar and other sugars derived from vegetable such as corn etc. but no chemical based sweetener. It has to say pure cane to be cane sugar. With that said, I guess my bees should be dead if beet sugar is involved with the wal-mart sugar! I've been feeding it to my bees for the past three months. When should I be looking for my bees to die?


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## JRing (Jun 12, 2011)

The bag I bought said cane sugar, maybe it's a regional thing. I do live in Arkansas.


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

From what I read on here I suppose one can assume that sugar cane is raised organically? If that is the case I wonder what those big tankers of fungicide are doing near the cane fields in Louisiana..... last time I drove through there.


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## OSafado (Jun 24, 2011)

Ok, I am probably opening a can of worms here...Isn't refined sugar just sucrose, whether it comes from beets or sugar cane? I get that there is a difference between brown sugars, but I don't see where there would be an issue between the two, once it is refined. The refining process pulls out almost all of the trace minerals, which is good for feeding bees, right?


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## K.E.N. (May 5, 2011)

> I no longer feed surgar made from sugar beets to my bees, neo-nics target mainly two markets, corn and sugar beets.


Apparently processing doesn't remove this from any sugar! Does it really kill bees in the doses allowed by the FDA or is that only in a lab that overdoses bees to make a point? I remember when they said hamberger caused cancer! They forgot to tell you that you had to eat a thousand pounds a day for ten years for this to happen!


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

OSafado said:


> Ok, I am probably opening a can of worms here...Isn't refined sugar just sucrose, whether it comes from beets or sugar cane? I get that there is a difference between brown sugars, but I don't see where there would be an issue between the two, once it is refined. The refining process pulls out almost all of the trace minerals, which is good for feeding bees, right?


Absolutely not. If it doesn't say on the label "pure cane sugar" it is not. If it says "cane sugar" it probably has some in it but not pure. Now how much gets adulterated at the packaging plant is unknown until they get caught. If it is not certified organic it isn't and in most cases it is GMO.


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## OSafado (Jun 24, 2011)

Acebird said:


> Absolutely not. If it doesn't say on the label "pure cane sugar" it is not. If it says "cane sugar" it probably has some in it but not pure. Now how much gets adulterated at the packaging plant is unknown until they get caught. If it is not certified organic it isn't and in most cases it is GMO.


Again, so what? I am not being a smart ass here. Sucrose is sucrose. does beet sugar have something in it, which cane sugar does not?


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## Keith Jarrett (Dec 10, 2006)

OSafado said:


> Sucrose is sucrose.


Well Said.


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## Hartz (Sep 4, 2010)

Started 27 packages in late April/early May on *foundation only*. Had a horrible superceedure rate (maybe 50%) not to mention horrible weather! All these bees were fed Aldi's sugar (probably GMO beet sugar) bought for $2.59 a 5 lb bag. I don't add supers until the bees have 2 deeps about full (19 frames and a feeder). As of today I have 12 supers (med) on about 3/4 full and maybe 6 more hives will need supered next week. Also started 9 nucs from this batch.
Sure doesn't seem like there is any problem with the sugar!!!

Hartz


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

Hartz said:


> Sure doesn't seem like there is any problem with the sugar!!!
> 
> Hartz


Pretty sure most of the folks commenting here are 100% Nontreatment advocates and feed nothing at all. At least I can not think of anything they would feed. My guess is that the nectar and pollen that their bees feed on is likely to have more "Chemicals" than your typical feed supplement.


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## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

I bought 50 pounds for $19.99 a couple of days ago which is just shy of .40 per pound. Now it's up to $27.70. Regular price has been around $34.90 or .69 per pound.

Adam


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## Scrapfe (Jul 25, 2008)

Test your knowledge about cane sugar, beet sugar, refined sugar, brown sugar, maple syurp, honey, agave nectar, and organic sweetners.

http://sweetscam.com/myths-and-facts/


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

OSafado said:


> Again, so what? I am not being a smart ass here. Sucrose is sucrose. does beet sugar have something in it, which cane sugar does not?


It has different ratios of sweetners than cane. yes, sucrose is sucrose but it ain't all sucrose. Secondly, and more damaging part is the GMO. What is GMO? It is an engineered plant seed designed to survive poison put directly on the seeds and plants. Not enough poison to kill the plant, or you in the short term. How about the long term? Consider this, you can consume considerably more poison than the bees can so think about what is coming. They are already dieing.

Absolutely no one that is concerned about the future environment and health issues is in favor of GMO. However, like all things driven in this country, money has a lot of influence.



> http://sweetscam.com/myths-and-facts/


What a terrible thing to be labeled "do gooder".

I have not feed my bees sugar only honey and if I should run short of honey I would step down to cane sugar.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

As has already been said, "sucrose is sucrose", or more to the point, sugar is sugar. 

People have been fighting over sugar since the 16th century. All this idiocracy about beet sugar versus HFCS versus cane sugar is nothing more than the results of highly effective marketing campaigns by various factions of the sugar industry. Worldwide sugar production is something like 170 million tons per year and rising. That is a *$100 BILLION* on the commodity markey. Face it, nobody wants to lose even a small percentage of market share.


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## beepop (Jan 31, 2011)

better be sure it's pure cane sugar and not granulated beet sugar


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## beepop (Jan 31, 2011)

I got a 50 lb bag for short of 30.00 at Sams


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## PCM (Sep 18, 2007)

beepop said:


> better be sure it's pure cane sugar and not granulated beet sugar


????????

Pcm


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Nabber86 said:


> As has already been said, "sucrose is sucrose", or more to the point, sugar is sugar.


OK I suppose if you work on wall street sugar is sugar but I thought we were talking about bee health.

http://www.chsugar.com/consumer/cane_vs_beet.html

Different melting points.

Would you call bees wax and paraffin the same? Wax is wax right?


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## OSafado (Jun 24, 2011)

beepop said:


> better be sure it's pure cane sugar and not granulated beet sugar


Ok, I give up. Don't support GMO if you have ethical qualms about it, but don't tell people that it will kill your bees unless you have some proof. everything I have read about refined table sugar is that it is sucrose, and it takes pretty sophisticated tests to tell the difference between the types of Carbon in beet vs cane. I don't think our bees would be able to tell the difference. I haven't seen a reliable source show that beet sugar has NEONICS, and I haven't seen a reliable source say cane sugar does or does NOT have NEONICS. 

Having lived in Brazil, I can tell you that the sugar cane fields I lived near were very far from organic. I don't know what chemicals they were putting on them, but I know they weren't organic.


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## OSafado (Jun 24, 2011)

Acebird said:


> OK I suppose if you work on wall street sugar is sugar but I thought we were talking about bee health.
> 
> http://www.chsugar.com/consumer/cane_vs_beet.html
> 
> ...


Pretty sure they are talking about brown sugar there, and I agree, if you are baking cookies, buy cane brown sugar. I haven't seen anyone advocate feeding brown sugar to your bees though.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

OSafado said:


> I don't think our bees would be able to tell the difference.


Your cat or dog is not smart enough to know that antifreeze will kill them either.
No one is saying all sugar is certified organic. Are you saying all sugar that comes from Brazil is not organic? That is good to know too.
Some people will never believe there is a difference in food products no matter how much proof is provided. It is not about proof it is about information for those who may be concerned. If your not concerned, no problem. If you have an unexplained problem down the road maybe you will change, or not.

I will let people know what I think is a problem for them and they can decide for themselves.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

Acebird said:


> OK I suppose if you work on wall street sugar is sugar but I thought we were talking about bee health.
> 
> http://www.chsugar.com/consumer/cane_vs_beet.html
> 
> ...


Good Grief. You reply with a website brought to us by the advertising department of C&H Sugar "informing" us that cane sugar is better than beet sugar. Is this where you get your information? Do you even have the slightest comprehension of what I posted about sugar wars and *ADVERTISING* by the Big Sugar industry.

I suppose I could just as easily provide a link to an American Crystal Sugar website extolling the virtues of beet sugar over cane sugar, but I will refrain because that would be just adding additional layers of idiocracy.


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## Scrapfe (Jul 25, 2008)

Acebird said:


> Your cat or dog is not smart enough to know that antifreeze will kill them either....


In Germany a lot of humans recently were evidently not smart enough to know that raw organic sprouts or raw organic veggies will kill them either. Oh well!!!

So we are saying that "pure" sucrose can be organic because it is extracted and purified from the juice of the sugar cane plant using a chemical process? But beet sugar extracted from beet pulp using hot water is not organic or as organic as cane sugar made using a chemical process? Oh well all over again.


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## OSafado (Jun 24, 2011)

Acebird said:


> Your cat or dog is not smart enough to know that antifreeze will kill them either.


Are you implying Beet sugar is up there in toxicity with antifreeze? 



Acebird said:


> Are you saying all sugar that comes from Brazil is not organic?


that is absolutely not what I am saying. I am saying cane sugar is no more organic than beet sugar, unless certified organic



Acebird said:


> Some people will never believe there is a difference in food products no matter how much proof is provided.


I must have missed it. what proof was provided that beet sugar is bad for bees? 



Acebird said:


> If your not concerned, no problem. If you have an unexplained problem down the road maybe you will change, or not.


It seems that many people look at this with the fervor of religion. I guess I just need a little proof before I can join the Beet sugar is poison church. In the mean time, I'll stop arguing about this religion online. If I find any proof that there is anything poisonous in what I am feeding my bees, I'll post it. I'll also do my best to ignore other people's posts, which I find intentionally misleading people.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

OSafado said:


> I must have missed it. what proof was provided that beet sugar is bad for bees?


From the C&H website that Ace provided: 

"What beet sugar makers call "brown sugar" starts out as white sugar crystals which are then sprayed with a brown coating."

and then, 

"Beet sugar, found in some store brands and in other makers that often don’t specify the source, is extracted from beets grown underground as a root crop."

and lastly, the ultimate death blow to beet sugar;

"Marion Cunningham, author of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook and a leading baking expert, says that beet sugar can cause problems with many recipes."


What other proof do you need that beet sugar is toxic to bees?


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## OSafado (Jun 24, 2011)

OSafado said:


> It seems that many people look at this with the fervor of religion. I guess I just need a little proof before I can join the Beet sugar is poison church. In the mean time, I'll stop arguing about this religion online. If I find any proof that there is anything poisonous in what I am feeding my bees, I'll post it. I'll also do my best to ignore other people's posts, which I find intentionally misleading people.


.....


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

I guess I should have added a couple of   

after my post.


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## OSafado (Jun 24, 2011)

Nabber86 said:


> I guess I should have added a couple of
> 
> after my post.


yeah, I was worried there until I saw that you were the same poster, that commented on the link.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

Hey, that Fanny Farmer is nobody to be messing with......


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/28/bees-coop-pesticide

What do the Europeans know that we don't?
Seems like we are always the last to learn...


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

Acebird said:


> http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/28/bees-coop-pesticide
> 
> What do the Europeans know that we don't?
> Seems like we are always the last to learn...


Scarcasm Mode ON: 

What does that artical have to do with the price of Beet Sugar in Belgium? :scratch:

Scarcasm Mode OFF - So's you can understand - What the hell does that artical have to do with the toxicity of beet sugar versus cane sugar?


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

> Laboratory tests suggest that one of the banned chemicals, imidacloprid, can impede honeybees' sophisticated communication and navigation systems. It has been banned in France for a decade as a seed dressing on sunflowers. Italy, Slovenia and Germany banned neonicotinoids last year after the loss of millions of honeybees. And the European Parliament voted earlier this month for tougher controls on bee-toxic chemicals.


"imidacloprid" = beet sugar

Am I going to fast for you? Should I slow down so you can catch up?


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

No. You just keep going in circles and eventually you will catch up with yourself!


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## HONEYDEW (Mar 9, 2007)

Acebird said:


> "imidacloprid" = beet sugar


This must be true becuase 
"soylent green" = people


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## Peaches (Jun 8, 2011)

All I know is the link was for SUGAR PRICES, not the virtues of beets and cane. All this talk needs to be in another thread.


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## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

well said.


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## CentralPAguy (Feb 8, 2009)

I was thinking the same. Yet I can see how the thread evolved.


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## Peaches (Jun 8, 2011)

I started a new thread so people can do what they will on it.


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## Kazzandra (Jul 7, 2010)

Acebird said:


> "imidacloprid" = beet sugar


Not trying to keep this going, but I do want to point out that if you skip a few steps, this is true... Advantage flea and tick killer is used to coat beet seeds. That does not mean that Advantage flea and tick killer is beet sugar, however.

I'm sure I could pull up some pretty ****ing news about sugar, and I bet you anything that I could pull a frame of my honey off the hive and find many chemical horrours there. I know I'm going to die of a chemical-related disease-- I just have to wonder what will get me first.

Related commentary

In further news, sugar in my area is 2.99 for 5 lbs. They still have to haul it up the mountain.


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## Ron Mann (Jul 17, 2009)

Harness your mule up and come to Johnson City. 

It is .60 cents a pound here.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Ron Mann said:


> It is .60 cents a pound here.


And how much per pound do you suppose $2.99/5lbs is?

Cheap, imo. Real cheap. One probably spends more in fuel driving around to find it cheaper.


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## Ron Mann (Jul 17, 2009)

True.


:doh:


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Don't worry the price of sugar will come down due to the flood of beet sugar. Now would be a good time to dump your stock.

Kazzandra the equation is meant to put things in simplest form. Now that Monsanto has the green light for beets you will be hard pressed to find one that isn't GMO unless it is organic. Every field that is GMO leave less and less room for organic fields. A farmer who has owned and operated his farm for many years can loose it in a lawsuit with Monsanto base on patent infringement (cross pollination). In reality the law suit should be won in the other direction but money means power not necessarily justice.


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## CharlieN (Feb 23, 2011)

Ron Mann said:


> It is .60 cents a pound here.


.53 here.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

Kazzandra said:


> Related commentary


Kazz, 

The website that you posted is just another Beek Blog. 

The part where it says, "Imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide, meaning that it permeates every cell of the plant, even if only used as a seed dressing. That means _*it WILL be present in the sugar*_, as processing does not affect it." is highly suspect (the highlighted part, not the beginning of the quote). 


Do you or the blogger have any data to back this up?


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Knowing the basic way sugar cane is processed into granulated sugar, it's hard to imagine anything being present in the granulated sugar than sugar. Maybe some one could tell me what pesticides are present in granulated sugar? At what levels?


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## Mbeck (Apr 27, 2011)

$.61 a pound for 15# at Sams club here!

Anyone been to a Sugar Beet festival in Michigan? You should see the evil that goes on there!


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

sqkcrk said:


> Knowing the basic way sugar cane is processed into granulated sugar, it's hard to imagine anything being present in the granulated sugar than sugar. Maybe some one could tell me what pesticides are present in granulated sugar? At what levels?


Here is one study that was done in India on pesticides in refined sugar. The samples were collected from 27 sugar factories located around India. Unfortunately it is just the abstract (you have to pay for the full artical).

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814610014020

It does however, list some interesting conclusions (Itallic text following each bullet point is mine): 

*Research highlights*


A GC–MS/MS method was developed for quantification of 11 pesticides in sugar samples. _(proper method of analysis for pesticides)_

This method was accurate (







99%) as it possesses LOD in the 0.1 μg kg−1 range. _(Detection levels of 0.1 µg/Kg are very low for an analytical lab. This is equivalent to 0.1 part per billion (ppb).)_

The recovery was achieved at the lowest levels of detection ranges from 82% to 104%. _(Percent recoveries [assumably from spiked samples] of 82 to 104 percent indicate good quality control and the sample results would not be suspect as being biased either high or low.)_

Out of 27 samples, one sample showed chlorpyrifos concentration of 0.22 μg kg−1. _(According to the National Pesticide Information Center, clorpyifos is toxic [oral LD50] to bees at a level of 0.360 µg per bee. Based on this, 1/2 of a given bee population would die if each bee ate 1.64 kg [3.6 pounds] of sugar that was contaminated with chlorpyrifos at a level of 0.22 µg/Kg. Somebody might want to check my math on this.) _

This study showed that Indian sugar is free from the commonly-used pesticides. _( I guess this means that either 1 out of 27 samples constitutes "free", or clorpyifos is not a commonly-used pesticide in India.)_
*A couple of other points that I would like to add:*

The study doesnt say if they tested beet sugar or cane sugar

It's a single study with 27 data points that were collected in India (a really BIG country), only 1 of which showed any pesticide contamination. *So please be careful extrapolating a single data point to the entire world's sugar supply. *

Most importantly - Does a single bee normally consume 3.6 pounds of sugar? For an overwintering hive of say 15,000 bees, that would mean you would have to feed 54,000 pounds of contaminated sugar to loose half of your hive. (again, fell free to check my math).


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