On This Day: The Anniversary of WWII Sugar Rationing

America was once largely reliant on foreign nations for sugar, and 84 years ago today, the first sugar rationing books were issued in support of the U.S. efforts during World War II.

After sugar use restrictions were lifted (two years after the war ended!) the U.S. government sought to encourage the production of sugar here at home to make sure Americans were never again without this critical food ingredient.

However, unlike World War II where Americans were encouraged to "make [sugar] stretch" because it was in scarce supply, right now we are dealing with too much sugar in our market. A flood of imported, subsidized foreign sugar is putting American farms and jobs at risk and jeopardizing the secure supply chain for sugar.

Those foreign sugar imports threaten to offshore American family farms and factories, harming the rural and urban communities that depend on the economic driver of American sugar production.

Unreasonable and unfair trade policies, like the $17.6 billion in subsidies India bestowed on its sugar producers in just one year, are creating a glut of foreign sugar. Outdated over-quota sugar tariffs have allowed highly subsidized sugar to come into the U.S. market above and beyond the quotas established by our trade agreements, undercutting the effectiveness of U.S. sugar policy as enacted by Congress.

If this issue is not fixed - and soon - we will likely see farms and sugar processors go under. We've already lost more than 50% of U.S. sugarcane mills, refineries, and sugarbeet factories over the past 30 years.

And, if we continue to lose family farms and processing jobs as made-in-America sugar is displaced by heavily subsidized over-quota foreign sugar imports, the U.S. may once again become overly dependent on foreign sugar suppliers. That puts a stable supply of this critical food ingredient at risk for food companies and households.

Winston Churchill once famously paraphrased a philosopher, saying, "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

Heavy reliance on foreign countries to supply sugar and other critical ingredients to American food companies and households led to a food supply crisis during World War II. At the time, we did not have strong enough policies in place to ensure a robust domestic sugar industry.

The U.S. should not make the same mistake again. Preserving American factory jobs, American family farms, and a strong supply of an American-made ingredient is something worth fighting for.