AI overview
A sugar beet is a cultivated crop grown primarily to extract sugar from its roots. It's an important agricultural product because it serves as a major source of sugar for food and industrial uses around the world.
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Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Subclass of
- useful plant
- Parent taxon
- Beta vulgaris
- Image
- SugarBeet.jpg
Show 3 more facts
- P1889
- Burak
- P366
- crop
- P105
- subspecies
via Wikidata · CC0
Article
A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (Beta vulgaris). Together with other beet cultivars, such as beetroot and chard, it belongs to the subspecies Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris but is classified as var. saccharifera. Its closest wild relative is the sea beet (Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima).
Sugar beets are grown in climates that are too cold for sugarcane. In 2024, Russia and Germany were the two largest sugar beet producers contributing to a world total of 294 million tonnes. Sugarcane accounts for most of the rest of sugar produced globally.