Sugarbeet Feature Stories

About 310 growers, spouses and affiliated industry personnel gathered in Tampa, Fla., on February 9-11 for the American Sugarbeet Growers Association’s 2014 annual meeting. While the weather outdoors provided a welcome respite for all those from northern climates, the important activity took place indoors at the meeting’s general sessions and hallway conversation periods.

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The Agricultural Act of 2014 was signed into law by President Obama on February 7, bringing to conclusion the overdrawn, exhaustive process that actually began back in 2010 with the first U.S. House Agricultural Committee hearings. Fittingly, the American Sugarbeet Growers Association Board of Directors was gathered in Tampa, Fla., on that signing day, in advance of the ASGA annual meeting, and as a group viewed the signing live on C-Span. 

So how long will ASGA sit back and relax now that the new farm bill has been signed into law? A more-accurate phrasing of that question would be: How long did ASGA sit back and relax? The answer: about one week. As ASGA members mingled in Tampa during their 2014 annual meeting, appointments were already being made to meet with members of Congress and their staffs. Association leaders were back in D.C. in mid-February, thanking House and Senate members for their support of sugar in the new farm bill and simultaneously working to ensure none of the sugar provisions would be jeopardized during the appropriations phase.

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Though already known by many in the audience, the new president of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association, John Snyder of Worland, Wyo., formally introduced himself to the group as he took over the reins from Minnesota’s Kelly Erickson at the conclusion of the 2014 annual meeting. 

Snyder was born and raised on a small farm near Worland established by his great-grandfather in 1914. Dairy, beef cattle, sugarbeets, small grains and alfalfa were staples in the north central Wyoming farming operation. Like most farm kids of that era, his childhood was shaped by work. “One thing instilled in me was a very strong work ethic,” Snyder noted. “The other thing that I developed was a very, very strong dislike for the dairy side of the business!”

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Were you to hear the words “spent lime,” what would be the first connection popping into your mind? 

For many Upper Midwest sugarbeet producers, most likely it would be “disease suppression” or “Aphanomyces reduction,” as this specific topic has been the focus of extensive research and publications in the region over the past decade. Certainly the application of spent lime at recommended rates to an Aphanomyces-infested field can help keep the disease at bay. But there likewise may be some components to spent lime that you probably did not realize. Indeed, the application of this product to your fields can offer a number of “perks” that are overlooked.

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Back in mid-November, just as the 2013 farming season was concluding, four sugarbeet growers — Kelly Erickson, Rick Gerstenberger, Galen Lee and John Snyder — traveled from their homes in Minnesota, Michigan, Idaho and Wyoming, respectively, to downtown New York City. Their purpose was to attend a dinner meeting of the Sugar Club, an international forum of traders and large customers of sugar.

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