Sugar Beet

  • 66 pages

  • Published: 1 Feb 2005

  • Author(s): Thompson, Robin, Campbell, Sarah

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The aim of the project was to complete a preliminary economic and physical feasibility assessment of
growing sugar beet for ethanol production in North Eastern Tasmania.
CSR expressed a commercial interest in expanding ethanol consumption as a renewable fuel. Sugar
beet is one plant, capable of growing in cool, temperate Tasmania, with a demonstrated capacity of
producing sugar that can then be used to produce ethanol. Previous studies by the Tasmanian
Department of Agriculture in the 1980s showed that despite good yields, the industry at that time was
not economically feasible. However advances in agronomic and production technologies, the
utilisation of by-products for livestock production and the Federal Government’s renewable fuels
policy suggested the crop was worthy of reassessment.
This report examines the results of the economic and physical feasibility assessments to determine if
ethanol production from sugar beet can provide a new industry for north-eastern Tasmania.