Editing Sugar beet (section)

=== History of the beet sugar industry ===
{{Main|Beet sugar factory}}

Franz Karl Achard opened the world's first [[beet sugar factory]] in 1801, at [[Konary, Wołów County|Kunern]], [[Silesia]] (now Konary, Poland).<ref name=gr1/> The idea to produce sugar from beet was soon introduced to France, whence the European sugar beet industry rapidly expanded. By 1840, about 5% of the world's sugar was derived from sugar beets, and by 1880, this number had risen more than tenfold to over 50%.<ref name="Langer" /> In North America, the first commercial production started in 1879 at a farm in [[Alvarado, California]].<ref name="ucdsugar"/><ref name="Mansfeld" /> The sugar beet was introduced to [[Chile]] by German settlers around 1850.<ref name="Mansfeld" />