Unrefined Politics of Sugar

Within the sugar industry, refiners have replaced producers as power brokers, and many dominate production as well. In the United States, the sugar lobby spends millions of dollars annually to persuade lawmakers to preserve legislative protection for cane- and beet-sugar producers, millers, and refiners by levying a prohibitive tariff that cripples foreign sugar trying to compete in the U.S. market. See sugar lobbies. Big Sugar has also devised ways to bypass U.S. anti-trust laws, primarily by marketing through cooperatives. Sugar growers have won exemptions from some labor regulations, such as the obligation to pay overtime wages.