United in Pursuit of a Fairer and Simpler U.S. Sugar Program

The Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy is a broad and diverse coalition of stakeholders who support reforming the U.S. sugar program. Our group is led by the National Confectioners Association and the Sweetener Users Association, which are comprised of hundreds of American companies across the country that include sugar as an ingredient in their products. Together, NCA and SUA members employ nearly 700,000 hardworking Americans in all 50 states.

The U.S. sugar program was established by Congress as a Depression-era intervention into the sugar market more than 80 years ago. The program established government-imposed quotas on domestic production and foreign imports and created an artificially high guaranteed floor price for sugar refiners through special marketing loans. As a result, American businesses are forced to operate at a competitive disadvantage, paying twice as much for sugar as their foreign competitors.

While America’s farm and food economy remains the envy of the world, its sugar policy has not kept pace. Without targeted changes, the sugar program will continue to restrict job growth for bakeries, confectioners and other small and local Main Street businesses and manufacturers. It will also continue to cost American families billions of dollars each year at the grocery store. Now is the time to act on smart bipartisan reforms to the sugar program that will support farmers, businesses and families.

We believe the upcoming farm bill reauthorization process offers several important opportunities to update the sugar program for today’s modern farm and food economy.