led to the separation of the manufacturing of raw sugar from the occupations of the planter. These buildings were also called sugar factories. Nowadays, the distinction between a sugar mill and a (cane) sugar factory is in whether it refines the raw sugar that it produces or sells it. This explains why in India EID Parry refers to sugar factories. Sugar beet processing In the 1960s, beet sugar processing was described as consisting of 8 steps, but these can be further divided in smaller steps. Transport is not part of this process, but transport cost is of course very important for the scale at which processing can take place. Transport could therefore be added as a first step. Storage can also be discerned as an important separate step. The steps of purification and carbonatation and those following, are not specific to sugar beet processing, but are also applicable to producing sugar from sugar cane. Therefore, these are primarily part of the Sugar refining process. 1 Transport After they are harvested, beet are typically transported to a factory. In the UK, beets are transported by a hauler, or by a tractor and a trailer by local farmers. Railways and boats are no longer used. In Ireland some beets were carried by rail, until the complete shutdown of Irish Sugar beet production in 2006. The Netherlands originally relied on boats, and by 2021 this way of transport made a come back over there. 2 Reception On arrival at the factory, each load is weighed and sampled. The beet sample is checked for: soil tare – the amount of nonbeet delivered crown tare – the amount of low-sugar beet delivered sugar content ("pol") – amount of sucrose in the crop nitrogen content – for recommending future fertilizer use to the farmer From these elements, the actual sugar content of the load is calculated and the grower's payment determined. 3 Storage The load is then tipped onto the reception area, typically a flat concrete pad. From there, the beet are moved into large heaps. When it is time to process them, the beet are moved into a central channel or gulley, and are washed towards the processing plant. 4 Washing and scrubbing The next step of the actual production process is washing and scrubbing. This is done by moving the beet around in washing and scrubbing tanks not unlike a washing machine. However, the