Sugar beet growers and Amalgamated brief committee on production, byproducts and policy priorities

Snake River sugar-beet growers and Amalgamated Sugar Company told the Idaho Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee that domestic sugar production remains vital to local farms and the U.S. food supply, and they outlined industry production practices, economic contributions and a set of legislative priorities.

Zach Patterson, president of the Snake River Sugar Beet Growers Association, described planting and storage practices and cited crop and yield figures: sugar beet seed is planted at about 52,000 seeds per acre on 22-inch row spacings and harvested beginning in September with storage managed by leveraging Idaho’s cold climate. Patterson said the industry typically produces about 40 tons of sugar beets per acre, with sugar accounting for roughly 18% of a beet. He reported about 80,000 acres planted in the region and said the United States produces about 9 million tons of domestic sugar while consuming about 12 million tons, requiring roughly 3 million tons of imports.

Patterson said the sugar program in the federal farm bill, which restricts low-cost imports, is a cornerstone of domestic production and that building new slicing factories is capital intensive and unlikely without major investment from local growers. He told the committee growers will visit Washington, D.C., to discuss the farm bill and the importance of the sugar program.

Christina Hardesty, general counsel for Amalgamated Sugar Company, described Amalgamated as a grower-owned cooperative of about 700 sugar beet farmers in Idaho, Oregon and Washington that processes roughly 2.75 million tons of beets during a six-week harvest. She said Amalgamated contributes more than $1 billion annually to the Idaho economy, returns net proceeds to grower-members, and employs about 2,500 people at peak harvest. Hardesty also outlined processing operations, factory slicing capacities and byproducts (pressed/dried pulp for animal feed, molasses, CSB and betaine) and noted byproduct sales can represent tens of millions of dollars in revenue per year.

Hardesty highlighted two priorities for the committee: (1) increased funding and staffing for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) permit and modeling work, which Amalgamated says has created backlog and forced the company to hire third-party modeling consultants; and (2) continued support for workforce training and apprenticeship programs such as Idaho Launch to help address shortages in trades (electricians, millwrights, instrument technicians) and engineers.

Committee members asked about potential for increased domestic sugar supply and about alternative uses for sugar beet coproducts; presenters said factory capacity and the high capital cost to build new processors limit near-term expansion and that byproducts are commonly used for dairy feed and other industrial purposes.