• I. THE UNITED STATES BEET SUGAR ASSOCIATION The United States Beet Sugar Association had its begin­ ning on March 30, 1911, when representatives of beet sugar companies formed an organization under the name "The United States Beet Sugar Industry." In 1914 the organi­ zation was incorporated under the laws of Utah as the United States Sugar Manufacturers Association. In 1926 the Assocation adopted its present name. Membership is limited to companies producing beet sugar in the United States. Canadian companies are also listed in this Direc­ tory, but they are not members of the Association. The Trustees of the Association are: A. E. Benning Ernest Flegenheimer President and Chief President and Chief Executive Officer Executive Officer The Amalgamated Sugar Co. Michigan Sugar Company Ogden, Utah Saginaw, Michigan C. W. Briggs Guy D. Manuel President President American Crystal Sugar Co. Spreckels Sugar Co. Denver, Colo. San Francisco, California John B. Bunker President Robert R. Owen President Holly Sugar Corporation The Great Western Sugar Colorado Springs, Colorado Company Rowland M. Cannon Denver, Colorado President and Chief Executive Officer John T. Stacey Utah-Idaho Sugar President Company Buckeye Sugars, Inc. Salt Lake City, Utah Ottawa, Ohio Hugh B. Eldred Philip Stauderman Executive Vice President Maine Sugar Monitor Sugar Co. Industries, Inc. Bay City, Michigan Easton, Maine Alden L. Stock President and Chief Executive Officer Union Sugar Division, Consolidated Foods Corporation San Francisco, California The Association maintains offices at: 1156 - 15th Street, N.W. Suite 1019 Washington, D.C. 20005 Telephone: (202) 296-4820 where it is represented by: Robert H. Shields ···-·---·---·---President and General Counsel Phillip E. Jones --·--------·-·------·-----------------Secretary-Treasurer David C. Carter ···················-·-.......... Director of Information and Public Relations 4 II. BEET SUGAR IN THE UNITED ST ATES 1970 marks the United States beet sugar industry's 100th anniversary. The industry, which today spans this nation from coast to coast and border to border, traces its American origin to a small sugarbeet factory that commenced operations in 1870 near San Francisco, California. To one Ebenizer H. Dyer goes the credit for building and operating the first permanently successful beet sugar factory in this country. Early Attempts Actually, attempts had been made to establish the industry in the United States as early as 1837. But that venture, like a substantial number of others prior to 1870 ended in failure. In one of the truly epic American pioneer struggles, settlers of Utah purchased beet sugar manufacturing equip­ ment in Europe in 1850 and had the machinery shipped to New Orleans. From there it was transported by flatboats to Fort Leavenworth where ox-drawn wagons then hauled the machinery 1200 miles across the plains and desert. Two years were required to build a factory and install the equipment. But in a bitter finale, the facility in Salt Lake City was able to produce only an inedible molasses and the plant was abandoned. Similar attempts were made in the next quarter-century in Illinois, Wisconsin, Maine, Delaware and Massachusetts, all ending in failure. The success of Dyer's California beet sugar enterprise, in 1870, however, stimulated new efforts throughout the West and Midwest. Sugar was scarce and high priced. Pio­ neer towns were looking for industry and farmers were looking for cash crops. The sugarbeet supplied those things. It revolutionized farming wherever it was introduced; it built new towns and brought trade and commerce to existing ones. In 1888 the second successful beet sugar factory was established in California, and in 1890 another at Grand Island, Nebraska. Industry pioneers in Utah, Colorado, Michigan and other states quickly followed suit. From 1890 to 1900 some 30 factories were built and in the following 10 years 50 more were constructed. Poor busi­ ness practices, lack of capital, drought, plant diseases, fire and low sugar prices wiped out many of the little com­ panies established at the turn of the century. But a num­ ber survived and served to form the foundation of today's modern beet sugar industry. In 1970 - the industry's centenial year - 12 sugarbeet processing companies have 59 factories in 19 states. Sugar­ beets are grown by thousands of independent farmers un­ der contract to the companies in 29 states from Maine to California. Although the number of factories has declined from a decade ago, total beet sugar production has been break­ ing records. The reason for this seeming contradiction: automation has increased factory efficiency and size per individual factory has increased output; fewer factories are needed to process larger crops. s Total daily slicing capacity of the U.S. beet sugar in­ dustry is now 200,955 tons of beets. Factory locations by States are as follows: Number of Daily Capacity State Factories (Tons of Beets) California 10 40,100 Colorado 10 25,725 Michigan 5 10,900 Idaho 4 25,600 Minnesota 4 13,500 Nebraska 4 9,510 Montana 3 9,320 Ohio 3 6,175 Utah 3 6,350 Wyoming 3 7,100 Washington 2 10,525 Arizona 1 4,200 Iowa 1 2,400 Kansas 1 3,400 Maine 1 4,000 New York 1 4,000 North Dakota 1 5,000 Oregon 1 6,650 Texas 1 6,500 In the last 25 years total beet sugar production has more than doubled, from 1.7 million tons per year to over 3.5 million tons. Today the U.S. beet sugar industry is the largest American producer of sugar, supplying upwards of 30 percent of all U.S. sugar requirements. Over 1,500,000 acres were planted to sugarbeets in 1969. Tables on the following page, compiled from re­ ports of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, give sta­ tistics for recent years on sugarbeet acreage, production and yields, and on beet sugar production. The volume of beet sugar marketing and thus the yqlume of beet sugar production, and in turn, the acreage planted to sugarbeets, are regulated by a federal law called the Sugar Act which, in various forms, has been in effect since 1934. The original aims of the Act have not been altered since its inception. The three principal aims of the Act are: 1. To assure American consumers an adequate supply of sugar at reasonable prices; · 2, To provide a healthy economic climate for a com­ petitive domestic sugar industry; 3. To encourage foreign trade. The basic methods of the Sugar Act have also remained the same: Each year the Secretary of Agriculture estimates our sugar needs and establishes quotas for the various sup­ plying areas to meet those needs, according to a pattern set forth specifically in the law. Amendments passed in 1965 allocated to the beet sugar industry a marketing quota of 3,025,000 tons when the estimate of annual U.S. sugar consumption ranges between 9,700,000 and 10,400,000 tons. For each 100,000 ton in­ crease in the consumption estimate over 10,400,000 tons, the beet sugar quota is increased 47,666 tons. Similarly, the 3,025,000 ton beet sugar quota would be reduced 47,- 666 tons for each 100,000 ton drop in annual consump­ tion below the 9,700,000 ton level. A description of the federal Sugar Program is available upon request from the Association as is additional infor­ mation about the U.S. beet sugar industry. 6 SUGARBEETS AND BEET SUGAR: HARVESTED ACREAGE AND YIELD PER HARVESTED ACRE, UNITED STATES Yield Per Acreage Harvested Acre Sugar Produced of Beets Refined Refined Harvested Su~ar (Thousand Raw Value (Thousand Beets (Hundred- Hundred- (Thousand Year Acres) (Tons) weights) Weights) Tons) 1900 . 132 6.4 14.8 1,960 92 1910 .. 398 10.4 25.6 10,200 546 1920 .. 872 9.8 25.0 21,780 1,165 1930 .. 776 11.9 31.1 24,160 1,293 1940 912 13.4 38.8 35,400 1,894 1950 .. 925 14.7 40.7 37,680 2,016 1955 . 744 16.5 43.3 32,210 1,723 1956 789 16.6 46.7 36,841 1,971 1957 882 17.7 46.9 41,360 2,213 1958 . 895 17.0 46,2 41,383 2,:~14 1959 . 897 18.7 48.1 43,180 2,310 1960 962 17.3 48.1 46,260 2,475 1961 1,091 16.4 41.5 45,270 2,422 1962 .. 1,114 16.5 43.6 48,561 2,598 1963 1,248 18.7 46.3 57,830 3,094 1964 1,395 16.8 44.5 62,096 3,322 1965 .. 1,248 16.8 42.4 52,857 2,828 1966................ 1,161 17.6 45.9 53,293 2,851 1967 .............. 1,122 17.1 44.8 50,242 2,688 1968................ 1,410 18.0 46.5 65,599 3,509 19691.............. 1,575 18.1 40.6 63,950 3,421 1 Preliminary U.S.D.A. Est. SUGARBEETS: HARVESTED ACREAGE, PRODUCTION AND YIELD PER HARVESTED ACRE, BY STATES Harvested Acres Production Yield Per Acre Avg. Est. Avg. Est. Avg. Est. 63-67 1968 1969 63-67 1968 1969 63-67 1968 1969 State (1,000 acres) (1 ,000 Ions) (--tons--) Ohio 29.1 36.0 38.8 483 684 660 16.6 19.0 1-7.0 Mich. 76.1 90.0 92.6 1,225 1,708 1,500 16.1 19.0 16.2 Minn. 121.7 161.4 164.3 1,435 2,177 2,366 11.8 13.5 14.4 N. Dok. 62.7 87.2 95.3 731 1,125 1,363 11.7 12.9 14.3 Nebr. 72.8 71.8 88.0 1,197 1,222 1,707 16.4 17.Q 19.4 Kans.