Michigan Sugar Company warns Farm Bill delays and factory closures are squeezing state sugar industry

John Boothroyd, director of government relations for Michigan Sugar Company, told a Michigan House committee that the state’s grower-owned cooperative and the wider U.S. sugar industry are under pressure from delayed federal policy and international market distortions.

"We don't actually make sugar. God makes sugar in the ground. We just take everything but sugar out of it," Boothroyd said, describing sugar beet production and processing during a presentation to committee members. He said Michigan Sugar operates factories in Bay City, Carroll, Croswell and Sebring and maintains packing facilities in Ohio and multiple piling grounds across the state.

Boothroyd said Michigan Sugar oversees about 140,000 acres of sugar beets across roughly 17–20 Michigan counties, producing about 4.8 million tons of beets that are processed into roughly 1.3 billion pounds of sugar. He described the company’s direct economic impact to the state as about $700 million and estimated indirect impacts between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.

The compa…