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It ain’t pretty, but it’s …
The number takes on added significance when you consider that more than half of the sugar produced within the United States during the 1990s has come from sugar beets, with the remainder from sugar cane. What are we talking about in dollars? A North Dakota State University study concluded that as of 1997 the annual economic impact of the sugar beet industry of Minnesota and eastern North Dakota stood at more than $2.3 billion. That impressive sum consisted of $831 million in production and processing, along with $1.49 billion in household income, retail trade, etc.
Three farmer- owned cooperatives — American Crystal Sugar Company, MinnDak Farmers Cooperative and Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative — produce and process all the sugar beets in this region. These cooperatives also jointly market their sugar and co- products. United Sugars Corporation, headquartered in Bloomington, Minn., is the sugar marketing arm for the three co-ops, while Midwest Agri-Commodities, based near San Francisco, handles their sales of beet pulp and molasses.
Nearly 30 counties in the Red River Valley and southern Minnesota have sugar beet acreage within their boundaries. There are seven beet processing factories in the region, five owned by American Crystal and one each by Minn-Dak and Southern Minnesota. Together, these seven factories can receive and process more than 50,000 tons of beets every 24 hours and do so for several months each year. The sugar beet is of the same plant family as red beets and spinach, and of the same species as table beets, Swiss chard and fodder beets. Its center of origin is believed to be in the Middle East, near the ancient Tigris and Euphrates river valleys. From there, wild beets spread into the Mediterranean, north to Europe, and east into Asia. Europeans first began manufacturing sugar from sugar beets near the turn of the 19th century. Commercial production in the United States did not really begin until the 1870s — mainly in western states. Red River Valley acreage was insignificant until the mid-1920s, at which time the first factory was constructed in East Grand Forks. The sugar beet species, Beta vulgaris, is a biennial plant. It develops a large root in its first year and will — if not harvested — form a seed stalk in the second year of growth. The size of a sugar beet root at harvest can vary substantially, depending upon several environmental and management factors. An average weight, however, would probably be in the area of two pounds — three-fourths of which is water. The root is thickest toward the top, and then gradually tapers to a pointed tip. The concentration of sucrose (sugar) typically is greatest in the center of the root’s point of widest diameter. Incidentally, the refined sugar obtained both from sugar beets and from sugar cane is identical both in chemical composition and taste. A consumer looking at and tasting samples of each would be unable to detect any difference. As with potatoes, the sugar beet crop lies underground, encased within the fertile soils of its prairie habitat. The tapered, cream-colored beet root is where sugar is formed and stored, and it’s also the source of the eventual pulp and molasses co-products. The lush green foliage that one sees when driving by a summertime sugar beet field serves as a chemical factory of sorts, absorbing fuel (sunlight) and transforming it into the compounds that build the root and accumulate sugar. Approximately 75 percent of the typical sugar beet root consists of water. Because of that large water percentage, the amount of sugar in the root (as a percentage of fresh weight), is usually limited to the mid to upper teens, though it can occasionally rise above 20 percent. Sugar beets are typically sown in late April or May in the Northern Plains. The plants are very fragile during emergence and early growth, and root development is minimal. Most of the sugar beet’s early energies go into establishing its leaves. Later, root growth constitutes an increasingly larger proportion of total plant weight until harvest brings the process to a halt. Even then, however, the sugar beet root remains a live, respiring organism, which explains why it must be either processed quickly or placed in cold storage to avoid deterioration. As in Michigan and Ohio (the only other beet-producing states east of the Missouri River), nearly all sugar beet acreage in Minnesota and eastern North Dakota is dryland (nonirrigated). All western growing areas (for example, Montana, Idaho, Colorado and California) raise beets under irrigation. The United States is actually a net importer of sugar, with those imports consisting of raw cane sugar from approximately 40 nations that hold quota allocations. This raw cane sugar is further processed in U. S. refineries. So sugar is not among the numerous agricultural commodities exported through Duluth/ Superior. The Twin Ports do, however, partner with the region’s beet industry in a couple of important areas. One is in the export of sugar beet pulp, a valuable livestock feed both within the United States and abroad. The most prominent export destinations for the pulp are Europe and Japan. After sugar and molasses have been extracted from the sugar beet root in the factory, the remaining fiber (pulp) contains 90-plus percent water. Once the water has been removed through pressing and drying, the final moisture is under 10 percent. The pulp is then compressed into pellets for storage and/ or shipment to customers. The other area where Duluth/ Superior works directly with the sugar beet sector is in the transport of limestone — or, to a beet processor, “sugarstone” — mined in Michigan for shipment to the Minnesota/North Dakota beet factories. Together, these seven factories use hundreds of thousands of tons of limestone each year. For example, the Hallett and C. Reiss docks in the Twin Ports handled 435,000 tons of sugarstone in 1997 and 550,000 in 1998. Here’s how limestone is used in processing sugar from beets: Upon heating in a direct-fired furnace, limestone decomposes into two essential reagents: carbon dioxide and “burnt” lime. The burnt lime is then mixed with water to form calcium hydroxide, or “milk of lime.” After sugar beet roots have been cut into shoestring-like cossets, the sliced beets are placed into a diffuser along with water and heat. The ensuing separation of sugar out of the cossets and into the water results in two products: wet beet pulp and “raw” juice containing sugar. Milk of lime is then used to help purify the raw juice by capturing non-sugar particles and other impurities. So, the next time you sprinkle those sparkling granules of sugar on your breakfast cereal or stir them into your coffee, remember: There’s a good chance they emanated from the rich soils of these Northern Plains and the quarries of Michigan and that, likewise, there’s a good chance that Minnesota’s World Port played an important role in the complex and intriguing process that brought those sweet crystals to your table. Ag writer Don Lilleboe lives in West Fargo, N. D. |
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Among the many attributes of Northern Plains agriculture, here’s the sweetest one of all: Together,
western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota comprise the most productive
sugar beet region in North America. Last fall, this region’s growers
harvested nearly 15 million tons of beets or, about 45 percent of the
entire 1998 U. S. crop. 
