Sugarbeet culture and Mormon economic development in the Intermountain West

Abstract

Beta vulgaris L. played an important economic role in Mormon settlements from 1852 to 1979. The introduction of the sugarbeet from Europe supplied not only a source of sugar and income, but also a sense of dignity and independence to early Mormon pioneers seeking refuge from intense religious persecution. As the major cash crop in early Mormon settlements, cultivation of sugarbeet directly provided security for farmers, and indirectly the economic foundation for workers in many other areas. However, in the last three decades, changes in world and U.S. sugar prices have rendered sugarbeet cultivation in some areas of the Intermountain West economically untenable, and the crop has been commercially abandoned.