Farm History: Sugar Beet Museum

History, farming, sugar beets? Could it get any better? Yes, a personal tour by some top-notch old-school beet farmers.
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We're a sugar beet farmin’ family in the Red River Valley of North Dakota!
Our farm specializes in growing sugar beets, hard red spring wheat, sunflowers, corn, soybeans, and various types of dry edible beans. The legacy currently consists of my dad, my uncle, my two older brothers, and I (Beet Farmin Mitch).
I am a 6th generation family farmer recently graduating with college degrees in both Agricultural Economics and Crop and Weed Sciences. Enjoy as I showcase our operations everyday work, grow as a young farmer, be a goofball, and walk out the most important thing to me. My love for King Jesus!
My hope is that you may be entertained and spurred on to grow in your passion and knowledge for all things agriculture!
Jak se máš! (Czech for "How are you?")
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Want to send Jenny, Oliver, or I fan mail?
“Beet Farmin Mitch and Jenny”
PO Box 336
Grafton, ND 58237
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Instagram: @beetfarminmitch
Email: [e-mail]
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Sugar Beet Museum. Crookston, MN.
/ rrvsugarbeetmuseum

[@GarySieverding]

Hi Mitch, my wife and I work the beet harvest at the EGF Yard, 11 years now ! We have been to this museum twice, Allen is a great host, we learned a lot of history.

[@chuckmid]

The only time we won the best booth award at the Sugarbeet Institute show was when we brought that sugar beet in the video. They had a spout on the side that would pour out sugar.

[@johndragseth3234]

Thanks for spending the day with my dad and step-cousins! You captured a lot of great information. As you note, anyone can get a free guided tour with a phone call.

[@warpath2424]

Love those old dudes, I'm sure you made their day and they made yours.

[@farmboy5622]

A very interesting tour. Nice to talk with the older generation (which I am slowly getting to be a part of), about practices from the past. Around the 14:45 mark, the milkers at the left, were the type we used to milk our cows back in the 60's and 70's. Around the 19:45 mark, we had a corn sheller similar to that one. We put a small electric motor and belt on ours, because we would shell several 5 gallon buckets of corn for the chickens. We would catch the corn cobs in a feed bag or dog food bag, and would use them to help start a fire in our wood burning stove in our basement.

[@BRPFan]

Very interesting video, thanks Mitch! Everything sure was a lot of work back in the day!

[@TeamDonRacing]

So glad you got the old timers to share their knowledge and memories. It's always good to hear their stories of how it was .. Good Job !

[@DougFritzler-z5h]

My grandma fled from Russian. They to came Canada. And they moved to Minnesota and hand top beets. It was cold there. Then they moved West part of Nebraska and farm. It lot warmer in Nebraska, than Minnesota. Raise beets in the valley. Then the moved to a new place 60 miles . I been living on dad’s farm for 63 years. Dad had a IH M and a one row digger. I remember helping to put the one on his IH m. Still have it in the old machine pile.

[@deboerag]

Very good! I know both of these men.

[@anstromwally6708]

Great history thanks. Maybe could explain different seeds & show the seeds & how are planted now sometime.

[@tombernatz3027]

Very interesting to see how far the equipment has come in eighty years. Great tour of the equipment. ThANKS FOR SHARING.

[@jimholty2274]

Thank you ,its a great part of history. You said that your family is from Spilleville Iowa ,they have a really cool museum (the Bily Clock museum) just wondered if you have ever been there? I live only 30 miles from there. Would love to meet you sometime!

[@geraldriopelle2044]

Thanks Mitch! The equipment and the engineering,amazing. Something to think about is. How did the farmer get his beets from the field to the factory. I remember as a kid the railroad moving beets to Crookston. Then also the evolution from single axle trucks to the modern day multi axle trucks of today! As an after thought, now I see why there were so many farm accidents back in the day.

[@robinghunt]

Can you imagine how long your harvest would take with that IH harvester? You’d still be digging beats in February!

[@oneninerniner3427]

Good one, thanks Mitch. Every October for the last 13 years I have driven back and forth by that place I don't know how many times on the way to and from the plant. I always wanted to check it out.

[@bobthomas9525]

Thank you for showing the all that great history. I enjoy old equipment and appreciate how far we’ve progressed in the industry. I really appreciate seeing farming practices for other areas of the country and other crops not raising around here. ( southern Indiana)

[@JIgginCrappie]

Nice video. Thanks for taking us along. If always wanted to go down there when they do the demonstrations but seems every year we are busy and I can’t make it. I did get to go to the one in cavalier last year. Lots of neat old equipment. Looks like I will be back up there working again this year. I’ll bring ya a few bags of crappie if you want.

[@dmk1529]

Thanks

[@rogerrichardson8109]

Keep up the great work

[@loisgustafson1558]

When was the 1st year sugarbeets were planted, I wonder, in the Red River Valley........Ron. That is one sharp looking 50 JD, wide front was rare back in the day.

[@joshwagner5414]

The original growers had to transport them to a sugar factory in Chaska MN. I’ve always heard the first guys growing them were from fisher mn just down the road from crookston. I’ve heard my family was in the first group and we also had the first sugar beet planter in the valley. We have a sign in our shop from when the planter was donated years ago

[@loisgustafson1558]

@joshwagner5414 thanks for the information. Ron

[@davidwpinkston4226]

good show, could you go back and interview the dog?

[@timwasserman1063]

Could have done without the music!

[@beetfarminmitch]

Ha, I could see why. Thanks for watching!

[@karlrovey]

It's like the old combine promo videos. Gleaner used Holst's _First Suite for Military Band_ in one of their videos for the M series combines.