MESA K-12 Schools Program. UC Davis/Sacramento State MESA Center Thanks You! As another year closes for the Sacramento Area Center, we would like to thank our teachers, UC Davis Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach, and most importantly our students. Many congratulations on another successful year.
Sugar beets are a root crop, and flourish in temperate climates where the growing season is about five months long. A mature sugar beet is about one foot long, weighs two to five pounds, and contains about 18% sucrose, which is concentrated in its taproot.
The sugar beets are stored in long trapezoid-shaped piles. Some of the sugar beet piles have large culverts running underneath them. At end of the culverts are fans that blow cold winter air through the culverts to cool down and freeze the piles to better preserve the sugar contained in the beets.