Alum is a salt that in chemistry is a combination of an alkali metal, such as sodium, potassium, or ammonium and a trivalent metal, such as aluminum, iron, or chromium.
USDA allocates a share of the anticipated U.S. sugar market to sugar producers annually. This allotment basically determines the amount of sugar an individual company is allowed to sell that year. However, these allotments can be, and often are, adjusted based on harvest conditions.
About 70% of sugar is produced from sugarcane, and the remaining 30% from sugarbeet, a root crop resembling a large parsnip grown mostly in the temperate zones of the northern hemisphere. Meet farmer Joe. He is one of the thousands of farmers in Australia who grow sugarcane.