Lisa Borgen joined American Crystal Sugar Company in June as vice presidentadministration. Her responsibilities in that position include Human Resources, Public Relations and Information Technology.

Borgen, a graduate of Minnesota State University-Moorhead and the University of North Dakota School of Law, had been an attorney with Vogel Law Firm, Moorhead, since November of 2013. Prior to that, she served seven years as district court judge for the Seventh Judicial District of Minnesota.

“Lisa Borgen has demonstrated the ability to deliver impressive results in all of our professional and community experiences,” noted Crystal President David Berg in announcing her appointment. “American Crystal has an internal goal of having the best workforce in the industry. I am confident that Lisa will help us continue on that path.”

Read our entire issue and back issues. Click here.

SESVanderHave is investing about $13.6 million in a new high-tech research center near its headquarters in Tienen, Belgium. The center, located at the nearby Feed Food Health Campus, will be almost 12,000 square meters in size and house up to 50 workers.

“Our current infrastructure is too small for all of the research projects we want to carry out,” said SESVander-Have CEO Rob van Tetering in explaining the need for the new center. “We test thousands of plants per year for more than 50 countries, and we need more than twice the infrastructure in the coming years to continue to keep research at a consistently high level.”

The Feed Food Health project in Tienen is a knowledge and innovative community encompassing innovative projects, developments and activities within the broad domain of healthy food for humans and animals. “Feed Food Health is established with the aim of attracting innovative businesses from the food sector to Tienen,” notes Marc Huron, its business development manager. “The SESVanderHave project therefore fits perfectly with our aim. It is innovative, high-tech and forms the basis of what Tienen is known for: sugar. We could not imagine a better partner at this time.”

Constructing of the research center will start in January 2015, with the first compartments expected to be operational by autumn of that year.

The American Society of Sugar Beet Technologists holds its 38th biennial meeting February 23-26, 2015, at the Hilton Resort in Clearwater Beach, Fla.

The meeting begins on Monday, the 23rd, with registration, committee meetings and the evening President’s Reception. A general session is scheduled for Tuesday morning, followed by agricultural and operations technical sessions that afternoon and the following two days. The 2015 ASSBT meeting concludes with the traditional banquet and awards program on the evening of Thursday, the 26th.

More details will be posted on the organization’s website — www.bsdfassbt.org — as they become available.

Read our entire issue and back issues. Click here.

Betaseed, Inc., recently announced its 2014 scholarship winners in the Michigan Sugar Company growing area. Six $500 scholarships were awarded at schools within the three Michigan Sugar grower districts. To qualify for the scholarship, applicants had to be related to a member/stockholder of Michigan Sugar Company and be enrolled full-time in an institute, college or university as of the autumn of 2014.

The winners in each district were:
• East District: Aaron Christy andHeather Gentner
• Central District: Holley Tait andNicholas Goretski
• West District: Lindsay Hoard andAmber Brown

Copies of the 2013/14 U.S. Sugar Industry Directory remain available. The 148-page edition is the most comprehensive “who’s who” for the nation’s sugar industry, encompassing production, processing, marketing and research entities. It also includes basic information and factory listings for the Canadian and Mexican sugar sectors.

Along with sections on sugarbeet factories, sugarcane mills and cane sugar refineries, the U.S. Sugar Industry Directory carries listings of sweetener organizations, university and USDA beet and cane researchers, as well as sugar-related federal agencies. Industry production and use statistics are included, as is a map showing the location of U.S. beet and cane growing areas. Another section lists hundreds of companies providing products and services to the U.S. sugar industry.

The 2013/14 U.S. Sugar Industry Directory is available for $54.50 per copy (postage and handling included on domestic orders; foreign orders should add $10.00 for postage). To order, or for more information, contact Lilleboe Communications Ltd., P.O. Box 2684, Fargo, ND 58108; Phone (701) 238- 2393; Email lillcomm@yahoo.com.

The Red River Valley Sugarbeet Museum hosts its 10th Harvest Festival on Sunday, September 7. The museum is located along U.S. Highway 2 on the southeast side of Crookston, Minn.

Doors open mid-morning, with the traditional pulled pork dinner starting at 11:00. Vintage farm equipment will, as always, be on display. Field demonstrations also will be conducted, ranging from horse-drawn units all the way up to a modern 12-row beet harvester. 

The 2014 event honors the late Pat Benedict, a former board chairman of American Crystal Sugar Company.

For more information on this year’s event, contact Allan Dragseth at (218) 280-8181 or adragseth@rrv.net.

Read our entire issue and back issues. Click here.