• Question: can sugar cane grow in England? does it need lots of sun, where does it grow?

    Asked by wookiee to Amelia, Izzy, Sarah on 19 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Sarah Harvey

      Sarah Harvey answered on 19 Mar 2014:


      Sugar cane is the world’s largest crop! It grows in warm, moist climates like the tropics and especially in places like Brazil.

      In England they grow sugar beet! For example there is a company called British Sugar which grows and also researches sugar beet. They have career schemes so are an example of an alternative to working in a university or research institute if you want a career in science.

      http://www.britishsugar.co.uk

    • Photo: Amelia Frizell-Armitage

      Amelia Frizell-Armitage answered on 19 Mar 2014:


      Sugar cane is a grass related to wheat, maize and rice. It is currently grown in more than 90 countries including Brazil, India, Thailand and China.

      It can grow in tropical (very hot) or temperate (european climate) climates, so it could grow in the kind of temperatures we have in England. However, it requires a lot of water – it needs continuous water for around 6-8 months. Another issues is that it doesn’t tolerate frost well. Both of these factors mean we cannot grow it in England as we don’t have enough rain (hard to believe I know!) and we also get frosts which would kill the sugar cane.

      Most sugarcane is grown in the tropics where there is loads of water available in the rainy season and no frosts!

    • Photo: Isabel Webb

      Isabel Webb answered on 19 Mar 2014:


      We don’t grow sugar cane, but we do grow sugar beet. Sugar beet produces a big storage organ underground, a bit like a potato or carrot that is full of sugar. The beets are harvested and the sugar is extracted.

      This process makes a lot of excess heat, and the factory which does a lot of this near me recycles that heat, using it to heat a MASSIVE glasshouse full of lots of different tomatoes. It’s a great use of recycling that heat!

Comments