Sugar beet growers and Amalgamated Sugar brief House Agriculture Affairs Committee on labor, glyphosate, DEQ permitting and factory workforce

Members of the House Agriculture Affairs Committee heard a combined presentation from Zach Patterson, president of the Snake River Sugar Beet Growers Association, and Christina Hardesty, vice president, general counsel and secretary at Amalgamated Sugar Company, on the state’s sugar‑beet sector and its policy and workforce challenges.

The presenters told the committee that sugar beets are a major crop in southern Idaho and that the industry supports local economies through farm income, factory payroll and byproduct sales. Hardesty said Amalgamated operates three processing facilities and 72 receiving stations and that the cooperative’s growers supply roughly 181,000 acres of beets; she added that the company produces what she described as "approximately 12% of the sugar consumed in The United States." Patterson and Hardesty also highlighted labor availability, the crop’s dependence on glyphosate, permitting delays at the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and factory recruitment for skilled trades.

"I want clean water, I want clean air," Zach Patterson told the committee as he described farm stewardship and the importance of pesticide label compliance to family farms. Patterson also explained the seasonal rhythm of beet production and said farmers rely on…