Abstract
In the second half of the 19th century, sugar beet started its triumphal march through the southern provinces of the Russian Empire, where it soon became a main crop in the process of the modernization of agriculture. The beet-growing agricultural enterprises were considered by the state authorities as prime examples for the use of modern technology, increasing yields and more efficient organization of labour. Entrepreneurs from the sugar beet industry were people of very different social background. Using individual educational and capital resources, they benefitted enormously from the recently discovered sugar-bearing crop.
This contribution focuses on the emergence and establishment of the beet sugar industry and the associated emergence of a new agrarian elite. Petrenko outlines the spread of beet sugar production in the Russian Empire, paying particular attention to its south-western region. Focusing on the development of the beet sugar industry, her analysis sheds light on the connections between the onset of modernization and the actions of individual actors. In order to illustrate the new entrepreneurial activity, this contribution outlines the rise and fall of the two rural “beet sugar dynasties” – that of the Yahnenko and the Symyrenko families.
