Around The Industry

Michigan/Ontario Research Reporting Session Is Jan. 19

The 2010 Michigan/Ontario Sugarbeet Research ReportingSession is scheduled for January 19 at the Doubletree Hotel/Conference Center in Bay City, Mich. This fourth annual reporting session will encompass all current sugarbeet research being conducted in the Great Lakes region. Registration is required.

For more information, contact Steve Poindexter at (989) 758-2500 or poindex2@msu.edu.

2010 Sugarbeet Institute Set for March 17 & 18 in Grand Forks

The 48th International Sugarbeet Institute has been scheduled for March 17 and 18, 2010, at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, N.D. This annual event, which rotates between Grand Forks and Fargo, is North America’s largest sugarbeet trade show.

Any companies desiring exhibiting information for the 2010 International Sugarbeet Institute should contact exhibits coordinator Bob Cournia at (218) 281-4681. Other ISBI-related inquiries should be directed to Dr. Mohamed Khan, committee chairman, at (701) 231-8596.

Copies of Great Western Sugar History Book Still Available

Though sales have been brisk, copies of Footprints in the Sugar: A History of the Great Western Sugar Company still remain available.

This 848-page volume, authored by Candy Hamilton, traces the rich story of Great Western from its humble beginnings more than a century ago, through its growth into a major beet processor with eventually more than two dozen factories in the beet districts of Colorado, Nebraska, Montana and Wyoming (plus Ohio and Kansas). The book also chronicles Great Western’s later struggles — including the period when it was owned by the Hunt brothers, who took the once-proud company into bankruptcy during the mid-1980s.

Footprints in the Sugar addresses other important industry players, too — including the German-Russian families so closely identified with sugarbeet production in the West; the Mexican (and Japanese) migrant worker community; and the role of World War II German prisoners of war. Among the book’s chapters are:

• Origin and Evolution of Sugar

• Emergence of the Colorado Beet Sugar Industry

• Great Western Sugar Pioneers

• The Company: From Humble Beginnings to Dominance

• German-Russians: Their Journey to America

• Los Betabeleros (Beetworkers): Foreigners in Their Own Land

• World War II Prisoners of War in Colorado: The Unspoken History

• From Expertise to Ineptness: Ownership Root of Demise

• All That Remains: Historical Review and Status of Sites

• Sugar Tramps: Backbone of the Company

Persons interested in ordering one or more copies of the 8-1/2 x 11-inch hardbound Footprints in the Sugar can do so by contacting Hamilton Bates Publishers, 251 W. Idaho Avenue #14, Ontario, OR 97914. Cost per copy is $79.95, plus $9.95 for shipping and handling. Payment is by check only.

More information on Footprints in the Sugar, along with ordering details, can be found on the publisher’s website: www.gwsfootprints.com.

2009/10 U.S. Sugar Industry Directory Being Prepared

The 2009/10 U.S. Sugar Industry Directory is now being prepared for publication.

This will be the sixth biennial edition of the popular “who’s who” of the nation’s sugar and sweetener sector. The comprehensive 2007/08 version was 148 pages in length.

Along with ample statistics and general background on the nation’s sweetener sector, the U.S. Sugar Industry Directory carries details on sugarbeet factories, sugarcane mills and cane sugar refineries. Listings of public beet and cane researchers, sweetener organizations and government sugar-related agencies also are included, as is a major section with basic information on hundreds of commercial companies supplying equipment or services to the industry.

A new feature of the 2009/10 edition will be background information and sugar mill listings for the Mexican sugar industry. The Canadian sugar sector also is included in the directory.

Any industry suppliers who have not yet been contacted but wish to be listed in the 2009/10 U.S. Sugar Industry Directory — or companies with interest in advertising — are invited to email publisher Don Lilleboe at lillcomm@yahoo.com.