To produce sugar, the sugar industry processes sugar cane and sugar beets. 60% of the world's sugar production is produced from sugar cane with 40% coming from sugarbeets. Sidney Sugars is strictly a manufacturer of sugar from sugarbeets. The average sugarbeet is made up of 75% water, 17% sugar, 5% pulp, and 3% soluble non-sugars. Through many chemical and physical reactions, it is the goal of the process to efficiently and economically separate sugar from the other components.

Sugar manufacturing is a seasonal industry. The actual manufacturing period (harvest through the final product) is referred as "Campaign" which generally runs from mid September to the end of February. "Inter-Campaign", March through mid September, is the time period in which the factory is dismantled for maintenance, process improvements, and the addition of capital expansions and/or upgrades. The length of each campaign can vary with the size of the crop and the efficiency of the factory.