Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative: Jobs Seekers

In March 1971, members of the Southern Minnesota Beet Growers Association were informed that the market for their sugar beets would close as of that season, that the processing facility at Chaska, Minnesota would cease operations. The reasons giver were small size, obsolescence, high cost of freighting beets, and the cost of renovating and adding pollution controls.

This decision left the dedicated farmers with no market for their crop and with the unbroken history of satisfactory sugar beet production in this area. They immediately began searching for a way to build a sugar factory to be owned by the growers themselves. The obstacles and hurdles encountered seemed to be insurmountable at times, but perseverance was a strong point of the key individuals closely involved with this endeavour.

By October 1972, the Growers Association had formed a cooperative, a suitable site had been selected, and a considerable amount of preliminary groundowrk had been laid in pursuit of their goal - a sugar factory to serve the needs of the approximate 300 growers involved. In the ensuing months, construction contracts were let, financial arrangements were sought, grower agreements were prepared and signed, and by March 28, 1973, the newly-formed cooperative was ready for a gala ground-breaking event for a $60 million sugar processing facility.

Construction began in earnest in May of 1973, with completion expected in time for the first harvest in the fall of 1974. However, setbacks arose such as a shortage of equipment for the factory, strikes by the construction workers, and the ever elusive finalization of the financing package.

With the arrival of Spring in 1975, the outlook was better and approximately 50,000 acres of sugarbeets were planted. This fledgeling co-op was continuing its pursuit of financing despite the many problems, and the not-quite-complete factory was dedicated at a three-day celebration in July 1975.

American Crystal Sugar had been retained on an interim basis to manage the operation for the cooperative, and on October 14, 1975, slicing of the 768,000 tons of sugarbeets produced began, a large crop for a first-year campaign. New personnel, equipment failures, design defects and other problems contributed to significant delays during the early years of the Operation.

In 1978, new grower contracts were signed, permanent financing arrangements were reached, a new management team was hired, and Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative took over the operation of their factory, achieving the goal set in 1971.

Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative

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