1965

Editor’s Note: One of our regular offerings in The Sugarbeet Grower is the “30 Years Ago” page, featuring highlights from the issue that was published 30 years prior to the current issue of this magazine.

As the schedule in 1985 did not include a July or August issue, we opted to reach back even further into our archives this month — back a half century, in fact, to 1965. The short excerpts on this page come from the Spring, Summer and Fall 1965 issues of The Sugarbeet Grower. Enjoy!

Spring 1965:
Grand Island, Belle Fourche Closed

“Two of the nation’s 60 operating beet sugar factories — including the second oldest — closed their doors at the end of the 1964-65 campaign.

“American Crystal Sugar Company President H. von Bergen announced on November 23 that the company would close down operations at Grand Island, Nebraska, at the end of the 1964 campaign.

“Douglas Love, president of Utah- Idaho Sugar Company, announced on November 30 that the Belle Fourche, South Dakota, processing plant would, likewise, close down following the 1964 campaign. . . .

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“The Grand Island plant was built in 1890 by H.T. Oxnard, head of the Oxnard Beet Sugar Company and a forerunner of the present American Crystal Sugar Company. . . .

“The closing of the South Dakota plant, built in 1927, reduces to five the number of processing facilities operated by Utah-Idaho. Other plants are located at Garland, Utah, Idaho Falls, Idaho, West Jordan, Utah, Toppenish, Washington and Moses Lake, Washington.”

Beet Marketing Allotments Set

Summer 1965:
Empire Sugar Enlarges New York Facility

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced marketing allotments for the domestic beet sugar industry for the calendar year 1965. The allotments represent 90 percent (2,385,000 short tons, raw value) of the current quota of 2,650,000 tons.”

Note: Company allotments, in short tons, raw value, were as follows:

— Amalgamated Sugar Company: 291,805
— American Crystal Sugar Co.: 271,556
— Buckeye Sugars, Inc.: 14,262
— Empire Sugar Company: 10,422
— Great Western Sugar Company: 515,238
— Holly Sugar Corp.: 383,270
— Layton Sugar Company: 13,618
— Michigan Sugar Company: 79,301
— Monitor Sugar Division, Robt. Gage Coal Co.: 36,753
— National Sugar Mfg. Co.: 7,584
— Spreckels Sugar Co., Division of American Sugar Co.: 338,909
— Union Sugar Div., Consolidated Foods Corp.: 113,574
— Utah-Idaho Sugar Co.: 248,708

“Cayuga County, New York’s beet cane sugar refinery has a new price tag of $25 million and is in the process of increasing construction employment from 350 to 500. . . . Empire is a subsidiary of the Pepsi-Cola Company.

“[Empire President John] Klett said the new cost estimate was made after it was decided to boost the beet-slicing capacity at the refinery. . . . He said the original design was for 4,000 tons of beets per day.”

Maine Beet Sugar Processing Plant Plans Announced

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on March 23 that the sugarbeet factory in Aroostook County, Maine, would be built by the Aroostook Development Corporation and operated by the Great Northern Sugar Company of Easton, Maine.

“On April 17, 1964, the Department announced that 33,000 acres had been committed from the national sugarbeet acreage reserve to farms in Aroostook County, Maine, for growing sugarbeets for a factory to be built by the Great Western Sugar Company of Denver, Colo. That Company has informed the Department that it is withdrawing from the project.”

Fall 1965:
American Crystal’s Drayton Mill Opens September 22

“The Red River Valley of the North, already world noted for its highly concentrated beet sugar processing facilities, moves another step forward with the opening of American Crystal Sugar Company’s new Drayton, North Dakota plant on September 22.

“The $20,000,000 facility, capable of slicing 5,000 tons of beets per day, raises the rated capacity of the company’s valley factories to over 15,000 tons per day.

“Drayton represents the fourth plant built in the fertile Red River Valley of American Crystal and is the third to be erected since the end of World War II.

“The Drayton story started many years ago as an idea in the minds of progressive farmers and businessmen in the Drayton area. . . . American Crystal Sugar Company entered the Drayton picture on the eve of hearings in Washington before Department of Agriculture officials. The USDA, holding hearings under a Congressional edict contained in 1962 amendments to the Sugar Act, heard stories and pleas from more than a dozen applicants. Finally the word was received in early 1963. Drayton was to receive an allotment for 50,000 tons. American Crystal was the company who would build and operate the facility.”

1,000 at C & D Experimental Farm Field Day

“Despite current low Canadian sugar prices and controlled acreage in the U.S. — which has caused a general 10 percent acreage decrease — there is still considerable interest [in Ontario] in the sugarbeet crop.

“This was indicated by close to 12,000 farmers from both sides of the border who attended the fourth annual spring sugarbeet demonstration at Canada and Dominion Sugar Company Limited’s experimental farm in Dover Township on June 10.

“Most of the continued interest, according to top beet officials in attendance, is due to the widespread use of mechanical equipment and chemical sprays, which help reduce the need for hand labor.”

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