Over the years, our nation’s confectioners have adopted new innovations and technological advancements to optimize our operations and maintain affordable prices for our customers. But the U.S. sugar program is failing to keep pace with the needs of the larger farm and food economy, especially American food manufacturers, which today are paying two to three times more for sugar than their foreign competitors.

The problem is that we don’t produce enough sugar in America for all the manufacturers who need it. Limited planted acreage, adverse weather events and supply chain snags can leave food makers without access to a domestic source of sugar. …

Carl Sandburg’s hog butcher, wheat stacker, city of the big shoulders — was once America’s candy capital, catering to the nation’s sweet tooth. Today it is less so because the federal government interferes with candy’s most important ingredient.

With Halloween on the horizon and Christmas close behind, sugar import quotas might produce shortages of candy corn and candy canes. Herewith another story of industrial policy gone sour. …

Soaring prices and sugar shortages have makers of candy canes, peanut brittle and lollipops feeling sour.

Tight sugar supplies are pushing up candy companies’ costs and, in some cases, cutting into production of sweets, executives said. …