History

1750-1900

1747 – German chemist Andreas Marggraf discovers sucrose in beets; his protégé Franz Karl Achard begins breeding sugar‐rich varieties.
1818 – Canada’s first sugar refinery opens in Halifax to process cane sugar, reducing dependence on imports.
1890 – Cane refineries established in Vancouver; first Canadian efforts to cultivate sugar beets in Ontario and Quebec emerge.

First Beet-Sugar Factory in the World — Built at Cunern, Silesia, 1802. (Source)

Image of the Knight Sugar Factory in Alberta, 1904. (Glenbow Archives)

1901–1902 – Ontario Sugar Company builds beet sugar factory in Berlin (now Kitchener); starts production in 1902
1902–1909 – Sugar beet operations near Waterloo Region operate briefly before ceasing
1902–1903 – Jesse Knight establishes the Knight Sugar Factory in Raymond, Alberta—the first in Western Canada—and plants the first beets .
1908–1914 – Knight's Alberta factory faces low yields, high production costs, poor beet growing weather, and stiff competition from cheap foreign sugar cane imports; closes in 1914
1916 – Redpath opens a beet-refining facility in Chatham, Ontario; Dominion Sugar becomes a key Eastern player
1925 – Alberta Sugar Beet Growers founded to support Albertan growers
1936 – Picture Butte plant opens (Alberta); meanwhile Quebec and Ontario continue modest beet farming
1940 – Manitoba Sugar Company opens in Winnipeg

1950 – Taber, Alberta refinery begins operation under Rogers Sugar; becomes nation’s principal beet plant
1958 – Redpath opens its iconic cane refinery in Toronto, further centralizing Eastern sugar processing
1967–1968 – Tate & Lyle acquire and shut down Wallaceburg and Chatham beet plants in Ontario Ontario
1977 – Manitoba plant closes due to market pressures and U.S. quotas
1986–1990s – Quebec beet operations shut by 1986, leaving only Taber active
1996–1997 – Michigan Sugar Co. partners with Ontario growers; Ontario Sugarbeet Growers’ Association forms to facilitate export to Michigan

Rogers Sugar factory in Taber, Alberta

An sugar beet crop and its farm family in Alberta

2000s – Alberta dominates beet production (~81% of Canada’s sugar beet acres), with Ontario growers supplying Michigan
2006 – Canada produces ~1.2M tonnes of sugar beets; Alberta yields 963 kT; Ontario yields 266 kT, processed in Michigan
2025 – Presently one domestic beet refinery remains in Taber, serving Western provinces; Ontario continues to grow ~8,000 acres for export to Michigan
Industry body – Canadian Sugar Beet Growers Association (national); Alberta and Ontario growers have their own associations, advocating policy change .