September 30, 2019
The Sugar Association has always worked on behalf of our farmers, processors and refiners. As the scientific voice of the U.S. sugar industry since 1943, we represent 11,000 sugar beet and sugar cane growers, as well as tens of thousands of others who take the sugar from the farms and turn it into the sugar we can enjoy. We are fortunate that over 75 years ago we were founded as a research organization and have therefore always embraced and supported research and innovation. Today we transparently support new research that helps us understand the role sugar plays in health as well as our evolving eating habits. From our perspective, nutrition science goes hand in hand with farming and agriculture – and we certainly feel there is a critical need to increase research funding across this whole spectrum.
One of the current challenges in agriculture is consumer connection. It seems that somewhere along the way we took for granted that consumers know where their food comes from. We have failed on education. We need to change this and reconnect consumers to agriculture again. When it comes to sugar, only 33% of Americans are aware that sugar comes from plants and just 17% think of sugar as being grown on a farm. This is not good! However, we are excited for the challenge and are launching an educational campaign this fall to help increase consumer awareness about where real sugar comes from.
Link to the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research: https://foundationfar.org/
March 22, 2026
"The Feeding the Economy report affirms the vital role food and agriculture play in our nation’s economic resilience and food security. Commercial bakers have long been proud partners to American agriculture, sourcing 85 percent of their core ingredients from domestic farmers....Sponsoring organizations from the food and agriculture industries, who helped make the 2026 study possible, provided commentary on this year’s findings. The full list of sponsoring organizations includes: ...The Sugar Association"
March 10, 2026
"Courtney Gaine, president and CEO of the Sugar Association, a scientific body that supports the U.S. sugar industry, told the USDA Outlook Forum that the school meal standards taking effect next year might prohibit added sugars in kindergarten meals and could significantly restrict them in other grades. That change alone would cut sugar demand by over 130,000 short tons. The industry faces additional pressure from rising GLP-1 weight-loss drug usage, which jumped from 12% in May 2024 to 18% in November 2025, though Gaine cautioned it remains "premature to assess the impact."
March 3, 2026
"Gaine added, "There is no data to support all this." She said the focus on added sugar is often politically motivated, but food groups have not pushed back on the MAHA pressure. There is a lot of fear of retaliation, and for good reason they have not wanted to push back publicly," Gaine said. "I think it’s going to demand a coordinated, really coordinated, pushing back. Any effort up (until) now has been to go along to get along, and I don’t know if that’s going to work."
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