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Red River Valley beet growers find sweet success in co-op
By Craig P. Halfmann, published in the Billings Gazette
May 16, 2011
 
I am a lifelong sugar beet grower from Northern Minnesota and I want to commend the sugar beet growers from Montana for their ongoing courageous and hard-fought efforts to purchase the Western Sugar Company. My heart goes out to them and I hope they will be successful, as it will be a benefit not only to those growers but to their communities as well.

Montana situation

In the early 1970s, my family, friends and neighbors and nearly 2,000 other sugar beet farmers in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota faced the same situation as the Montana sugar beet growers are currently in declining beet payments, a company that is not able to reinvest back into the business and growers facing an uncertain future. Our solution was to take our future into our own hands by purchasing the company and forming a grower-owned cooperative. Our collective efforts came together in 1973. After many months of negotiating with the company and building financial support from growers, we purchased the company to form the American Crystal Sugar Cooperative. Together our growers in good faith plowed millions of dollars into the effort, said a prayer and went forward.

Growers come first

That effort proved to be successful for our growers and our communities. As a cooperative, we hire the management and we grow the beets. Then we process them, pay the bills, and our growers get the rest. The concept is very simple the growers come first, that is the idea of our cooperative. If our effort had failed, my family and I and 2,000 other sugar beet growers from the Red River Valley would not be growing sugar beets today, and many of our small towns and communities would be gone as well.

Our sugar beet grower friends in Montana now face the same issues and are fighting for their survival. They have had to overcome many obstacles along the way as they move closer to a successful purchase. It is extremely disappointing that some have tried to stand in the way of their efforts. Despite the hurdles that have yet to be overcome, I am confident that the Montana sugar beet growers will prevail and eventually will be the proud owners of their own sugar beet processing cooperative.

From Minnesota and North Dakota, I and my fellow sugar beet growers wish the Montana sugar beet growers and their communities the very best of luck and hope they succeed.

Craig P. Halfmann, of Stephen, Minn., is president of the Red River Valley Sugarbeet Growers, which is based in Fargo, N.D.