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Love our channel? Help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference. Join this channel to get access to perks: This black and white, silent film from 1930 is titled “Beet and Cane Sugar” was produced by Eastman Teaching Films, a division of Kodak. The film sheds light on the beet and cane sugar industry in the United States during the early 20th century and depicts the process of production at sugar mills in Michigan and Louisiana. Additionally, the film not only educates the viewer on all steps of production but also where beet and cane sugar are traditionally produced across the world as well as within the United States. Field worker cutting down sugar cane crop (0:19). Field worker inspects beet crops (0:30). Hand pours granulated sugar into an open bag (0:31). Illustrated map of North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia/ Oceania displaying trade routes of sugar across continents and geographic concentration of beet sugar vs. cane sugar (0:38). Sugar beets (1:10). Beet sugar production in Michigan from planting, to harvest, to production (1:30). Beets arrive at a sugar beet grinding mill (3:10). Dried beet juice pulp (5:51). Beet juice refined to make sugar (6:05). Refined sugar placed into burlap bags (7:41). Cane sugar (8:14). Cane sugar production in Louisiana (8:23). Sugar cane transported to sugar mill (8:58). Interior of sugar mill (9:38). Illustrated diagram of how juice is de-colored using char filters (9:58). Juice evaporated into syrup in vacuum boilers (11:20). Whirling sieves that extract sugar from liquids (11:42). Sugar dried in rotary drums (12:29). Refined sugar placed into burlap sacks (13:03). Cube sugar molded by automatic machines (13:20). The use of sugar beets for the extraction of crystallized sugar dates to 1747, when profesor Andreas Sigismund Marggraf discovered the existence of a sugar in vegetables similar in its properties to that obtained from sugarcane. The largest producers of beet sugar in the United States, up until WWII, came to be California, Utah, and Nebraska. Sugar cane was originally native to Papua New Guinea and Taiwan however due to colonization and transatlantic trade cultivation of the crop spread across the world. Once a major crop of the southeastern region of the United States, sugarcane cultivation declined there during the late 20th century. It is important to note the role of the sugarcane industry and sugar plantations in America’s southern colonies in the slave trade. For many years enslaved African’s were brought to the United States to tend to the crop and even after slavery was outlawed it was African Americans who continued to labor the sugarcane fields. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.“ This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit
