Special Episode: Sugar Beet Harvest - America's Heartland

In this special episode, reporters Jason Shoultz and Sarah Gardner travel to Minnesota to get a first-hand look at the sugar beet industry in action. We'll learn how farmers in the region work together and around the clock to transform sugar beets fresh from the fields into the sugar products we find in our pantries.
At sugar processing factories across Minnesota, thousands of people labor almost without a moment's rest to pull beets are out of the ground and process them into sweet sugar. You might not think of sugar coming from oversized white beets, but that's exactly what happens once they get to the factory. Hundreds of workers are required to help deliver the beets, dumping them into huge piles, ready for processing. It all requires the perfect confluence of ideal weather, synchronized work, and relentless willpower.

[@jackbeedle2956]

Drove to American crystal in drayton and many fields Steven's argyle loved every minute of it I am 80 now my memories will always be with me thank the men I worked with for good times

[@billyhillk5726]

Kinda like being in the military 🎖️ You guys are the BOMB 💥💥🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸👍👍

[@jaimegarza7835]

This brings back so many memories of when i used to haul sugar beets from the Bakersfield Californian area to the beet plant In Santa Maria Ca , glad to know it’s still going strong in America

[@tonysolar284]

Thank you for your support in the drug trade. It keeps my sugar addiction intact.

[@TheWizardGamez]

didn't know sugar beets could be grown in a near desert enviornment

[@amannybon]

Howdy Jaime De LA G...good to know that You still have fond memories of the Harvesting. Sincerely, Manny (Almaguer) ß.

[@kenheathman5500]

Back in the 50s I helped out on Whites farm @ over Stratton Somerset, in those days the beets pulled by hand, useing a beet hook to chop the tops off . Then loaded in a trailer, taken to Martock railway station, and loaded into a railway wagon, all done by hand, some say the good old days, bloody hard work,

[@KillerScorpion18]

Thank you Farmers . for taking care of us .

[@randlerichardson5826]

Thank you to all the farmers in America. May THE LORD truly bless you all Amen.

[@lawrencevance5249]

My wife and I are working the sugar beet Harvest for the first time this year really looking forward to it

[@opinion4246]

Farmers in America feeds The 🌎.the equipment and land is amazing.and God bless you losing sleep 😴🇺🇲💯👍

[@Timrathmore]

My good lord you guys are hardworking. Loved watching the process.

[@gipster9923]

My family bought the first ROPAs in the United States and we’re all proud sugar farmers up here in Michigan

[@713unclebill]

THANK GOD these people who produce and process Sugar Beets.GOD BLESS AMERICA

[@ShainAndrews]

Your god has nothing to do with it.

[@ShainAndrews]

@@mmm365 Poisonous mate.... poisonous. Might want to get that spell check looked at mate.

[@mgcinimalinga7097]

Good bless America

[@whitleysinthewild7877]

We worked the harvest last year and leave in a week to do it again this year! It is an exciting event we would not miss ☺️

[@michaelmurray7199]

My hat’s off to all these hard working farmers doing their part to keep the shelves at our local grocery stores stocked with food, and that local restaurants never have a shortage of fresh ingredients.

[@davidweston6653]

Well produced- tks

[@TangTuyetMinh1]

I learn something new everyday.

[@mind9528]

me too 🙂

[@fredricknolan3905]

From a old campaigner for Michigan Sugar. Did it from the piler of 1880 vintage from Germany to stacking 100# bags on pallets seven tier high by five bags a tier and doing over a 1000 pallets a shift. Making lime for filtering to straddling tank cars to watch it fill with molasses in January and it wasn't that slow. The nickle bag pealing for the liquid sugar tanks was the hardest because sugar was like bricks from the moisture seaping thru the paper. Just staying away from the bees was really hard. We ran from October thru February or March if spring was running late. Younger brother got on full time after 10 years of campaigning. They paid for his schooling as a boiler operator.

[@jibblesq]

Lime? You sure it wasn't soda ash?

[@snotboy200]

came for the beets, stayed for the gardner

[@admagnificat]

Fascinating stuff. Thank you for making this video!

[@amtraktraveler9118]

I just hauled my first load of Sugar Beets for Renville MN, Friday to start the 2020 Beet Campaign.

[@brianhuff3442]

Would be my third year working the harvest! Now and it's better than what It seems

[@mauriceupton1474]

Excellent program....watching from Auckland New Zealand, South Pacific

[@slimyjimypro8811]

I love watching my cousins harvest sugar beets in michigan.

[@acgillespie]

I love watching others work period..

[@tomjenkins5597]

Thank you for posting this video, so informative; never knew of involved the process is. Now I know how sugar is derived from beets. I grew up in New York City and never realized sugar comes from beefs. I love my sugar and love it even more now knowing how hard you guys work to bring sugar to my table! Thanks so much!

[@jimbojet8728]

Lots of lovely American sugar. Love it! Thanks for the vid.

[@tractors44]

Very informative, didn realise that so much beet was grown in the US.

[@deniswatts4574]

Beet harvesting used to ba massive crop over here in Ireland, big business saw to the closing of local Beet factories across the country. It used to bring a lot of short term highly paid employment for about 5 mths to a lot of people..

[@shanelamell2229]

This was great and thanks for sharing.

Nice!

[@BRPFan]

I miss sugar beet harvest here in Southern Manitoba!

[@alfredenisz4775]

Sugar beets were brought from Germany to the Volga region of Russia by Germans. Many of them then came to the U.S. and brought their Sugar Beets. Also, Germans brought their sugar beets into the areas along the Danube region of Europe. We had vast areas of eastern Colorado where sugar beets were planted.

[@mra95662]

Germany ran their tanks on sugar beets and potatoes during WW1

[@TheSoloAsylum]

Dwight clearly oversees this entire operation.

[@8213NATE]

Interesting video. I'm actually sitting in a loader as I type this a the Western Sugar factory in Billings, MT. Only have 4 more days til all the beets piles have been hauled off.

[@Calv-tb1bx]

Are you still alive???

[@rickcruz3382]

@@Calv-tb1bx it wasn't that long ago Funny comment though

[@acgillespie]

Am I ever gonna get my 2 lumps for my coffee? Been waiting forever niow

[@talibhussain1414]

Good Organization ,Good Management .

[@steyrman2]

Hi I worked he in Ireland with irish sugar company it closed down in 2007 with the loss of over 1200 jobs we had 4 sugar factory’s here at one time since 1925 we now import all our sugar from EU one of the greatest losses to Ireland

[@paddymickiemickie8221]

Funny so did I .Went from harvesting it by hand to full automation The closing of the sugar beet industry in Ireland was another of those great Irish scandals, or they called it progress We gave it away in the late eighties when the Quotas started to take effect and headed for Western Australia Had a look at the sugar cane in Oz interesting

[@WaltzingAustralia]

Great video. I knew that sugar beets were big in Minnesota, but it's hard to understand the scope of the harvest without seeing it. Thank you.

[@nevets4190]

its big in north Dakota as well

[@fredjohn6064]

Hello Cynthia......

[@joedirt9600]

Very interesting, Thank you

[@timengland3649]

One of the best jobs I had in my 20's was working for GW Sugar in Fremont, Ohio. I started out as the grunt with a 10 ft pitchfork cleaning the water recycle grate. After the beets were washed they took a four floor ride up to the picking table and I had to shovel out the chip pit. Then I got moved to the forth floor picking table where we had to remove debris like rocks and frogs. Then I got moved to the precoke ovens where I got to run a Bobcat and load chips keeping the rail line clear and the warehouse in check. Finally I got promoted to the production line to monitor moisture of the final product. At times it was a cold brutal job. The beats came in the fall but we were processing into early winter. Till this day I curse GW from pulling out and killing the sugar beat industry in north central Ohio. The same curse is bestowed on the pickle producers and especially Heinze who killed our tomatoe production and only processes crap brought in by rail car from Cali.

[@dapperdingo]

John Kerry is a dirt bag.

[@EMDSD40T2]

When I was a kid in Northern California we had a sugar plant in the town I lived in, the Southern Pacific would bring train loads of beets to the plant.

[@pnwRC.]

Great video!

[@nickdawn3985]

Lets not grow our food in labs, lets support our local farmers!

[@Morpheus9331]

they taste so good if you eat them just of the land, they taste like very sweet potatoes

[@rickcruz3382]

Yup chew em up and spit out the pulp

[@kathymorkassel3236]

My husband works the E G F factory.

[@kaosinc]

This was recommended to me and I live on the other side of the planet(Australia) and have nothing to do with agriculture(sparky) but I actually enjoyed it!

[@haqkomano4175]

Sugarcane Sugar is sweeter than beats. Huge difference.

[@sawkarevarun18]

I just love this title song....

[@DavidLee-oj3tz]

I remember working for Neil's father 45 +years ago that green and white ihc tandem was his dad's 1st tandem I drove it home from crookston MN I remember the boy's I remember Neil as very young boy of course I'm in my 60s

[@rickcruz3382]

Fond memories from more simpler times

[@dakotaboy80]

That same factory is still running in Crookston, MN for American Crystal Sugar.

[@GratefulOverlander]

That was his Uncle

[@Petermax99]

Good video really enjoyed it.

[@gordonmccoy4537]

Excellent reporting. .. Excellent vid... ! Thanks! Gordon in Maui

[@garlandremingtoniii4679]

Gordon McCoy Yes. It is excellent reporting. Old boy.

[@peachyfresh1078]

To drop some sick beats, you gotta know how to grow em first

[@Calv-tb1bx]

@Benaiah Ahmadinejad shut up perv.

[@ornge2561]

i drive past there like 20 times a year i love mn

[@joshgerszewski]

i agree 100%!! i sware city ppl dont think befor thay talk . its like wtf u thinks ganna happen if the equipment brakes down!

[@SportDogg2008]

Michigan is where the Sugar Beets are!

[@jpreachit]

Your doing a great Job Bro. Mark. Miss you and will be glad when you get back Home

[@MrWhiseguyy]

Nice

[@allanw.lerfald5191]

The city of Hillsboro that is mentioned is Hillsboro, North Dakota

[@spockmcoyissmart961]

What I found interesting is calories. In my local Wally mart, Domino cain sugar is 15 cal per serving. Great Value sugar, from sugar beats is 30 cal per serving.

[@dundonrl]

100% Sucrose contains 16 calories per teaspoon, doesn't matter if it's from cane sugar or sugar beets.

[@rickcruz3382]

@@dundonrl thanks for setting them straight

[@YouSpedd]

very interesting! thx for post!

[@artended]

i watch this show stoned, very relaxing

[@chriswhite4596]

Most people don’t remember about the Huge Sugar Beet Plant in Hereford, Texas .. called Holly Sugar

[@ianziegler5464]

God I love that red paint

[@musicmanmatt87]

A note in the hardware store?? Really? I grew up around farms and that definitely didn't happen, but I guess it's the perfect target audience. So funny, old school and awesome!

[@steveeab2364]

I live in sugar beet Country and it most certainly does happen.

[@markfryer9880]

Hey he was being proactive in looking for work and it's a good way to work locally.

[@tampicoerahermoso]

great vid,thx guys

[@creativeoption1]

some machines,its like wow,in siberia they make alcohol from these beets,sure brings memories.............

[@waswestkan]

Sugar beets used to be a thing onthe Estern Colradio and th Kansas High Plains. The sugar processing plant atGoodlan, KS was converte to process Sunflowers. I'm not sure what's going on pothrt now.Irrigated corc with cattle production to send to the feedlots, I suppose

[@kaderkader4544]

good job

[@AshrafAli-jk7sq]

⚘🌼🌼🌻🌹🌹🥀🥀🌺🌷very Beautiful

[@anotherway875]

Wow, who knew?

[@giovannifoulmouth7205]

If the tractor is pulling it, then it is NOT a self propelled harvester. The tractor is propelling it. Didn't you ever see a Holmer or a Dewulf self prop. harvester? There are vids on YT.

[@claudiaoctavia6340]

Not a single word about government sugar beet subsidy? This is just a crystal sugar infomercial.

[@RJ1999x]

You do realize the subsidies supply you with cheap food right?

[@markdavidson9720]

Cheap sugar and higher taxes. What a trade off.

[@RJ1999x]

@@markdavidson9720 a overly simplified view.

[@youthunter]

SMBSC is still biggest in the nation for single plant opperation

[@nunyabizniz50]

I would recommend reading the book Nomads land . It paints quite a different picture than what this video is showing .

[@karozans]

Leftist anti-science anti-industry filth.

[@rickcruz3382]

@Santina Murphy HAHAHAAA oh sh!t that is funny

[@mrsseasea]

How many remember the 70s and the sugar crunch? With out these farmers ......it would be 10 fold .......

[@hausaffe100]

interesting to see how different the American sugar beet harvest procedure is compared to Europes

[@phillipgraham1422]

hausaffe What is the difference, I am interested.

[@hausaffe100]

Philly 737 here beats are usually harvested by selfdriving machines wich include the head cutter and than piled on the headland. When the sugar company needs beats they send out a special loading machine called "rübenmaus" (beat mice (because all the 🐁 &🐹 running away)) wich will clean the beats from soil and load them on to trucks

[@phillipgraham1422]

hausaffe Cool, thanks for replying too !

[@Wagiii_]

That 1am darkness is Finland 4pm-8 or 9am in the winter

[@cptechno]

Can you cook with sugar beats? Can it be eaten raw with salad?

[@maxwebster7572]

bad for teeth

[@3leopardsblue]

there has never been any love ploughed into that land. it grows well now. but it cant go on forever like this.

[@newperson2012]

Yes, and you can see these farmers have some pride in their work, but no love or respect for Nature.

[@richardpeter1935]

Gerry Steven

[@garlandremingtoniii4679]

Gerry Stevens Yes. It can. And yes it will.

[@joshwagner5414]

You are the dumbest people alive

[@sethb9545]

You are full of shit Troy Halverson farmers and ranchers are in tone with nature . More like the city and towns people who are out of tone with nature respect and common sence. As you have trashed these area and keep in mind it used to be beautiful farm and ranch land . Now its a waste land .

[@allanmjensen]

those sugar beets are small the one in denmark are 4 5 times bigger then the one he did hold in the start.. nice video

[@giovannifoulmouth7205]

the unloading is done on the move with the self prop. harvester

[@adnanfnaish8489]

Sadly beet and super cane are very natural sugars but when they use the chemical process it becomes HIGHLY detrimental to people

[@kilianclasen5521]

What "chemical process" are y'all talking about? Over here in Germany, the sugar is cooked out of the chopped beets into a syrup, which then is boiled to evaporate excess water and form sugar crystals. Those are centrifuge'd out of the syrup to get the white crystal sugar. Don't know if you're doing it differently across the pond but to me, there is nothing on the processing side that turns the sugar unhealthy.

[@sanyasiraosenapathi3164]

Very Good. Pl let us know the SUGAR yield/out put per one ton of SUGAR BEATS, Sweetness is equalent to sugar cane sugar or any thing less. Also which sugar is good for health... S S Rao

[@mike0566]

Sanyasirao Senapathi Sugar beet yields have ranged from a low of 18.6 short tons per acre in fiscal year (FY) 1993 to an average of 28.8 tons per acre in FYs 2014-16. The number of farms growing sugarcane and sugar beets declined from 2007 to 2012, but the average area harvested per farm increased, the beet itself has about 18-22% sugar content

[@dwightl5863]

Does not make much of a difference. Metabolized the same is my understanding.,

[@dwol3453]

no, a truck drives beside, unloads in a couple seconds: check out the grimme maxtron!!

[@jw176503]

Without subsidies in E.U. and quotas in China and USA, sugar beets would never be competitive with cane. Quotas keeping cane sugar imports out make Americans pay more, but this industry wouldn't exist without them. On the balance, it would be better to give preferential access to struggling countries (e.g. Haiti) and make sugar cheaper at home.

[@shanegill25]

Fun Facts!: 50% of America's sugar comes from Sugar Beets. 95% of ALL sugar beets are GMO Herbicide Resistant!

[@danz-ls4ce]

God bless you for your brave and truthful comments. Welfare for well to do farmers.

[@flamedrag18]

what do you call the machine that's uprooting the beets and oading them into the truck while on the move? it's self propelled and it's harvesting the beets......

[@suzieparis6821]

Grow em in eastern Montana too

[@dragosbelar]

How much ethanol is produced from sugar beets?

[@larryhofer8853]

I'm surprised you don't have JD tractors

[@prnkstr]

Beets....serious business...

[@garyl6031]

Farmers are awesome but, the guy at 4:08 is peter griffin incarnate!

[@Digital111]

lol I did a CTRL+F search cause I wanted to see if anyone else saw Peter 😂

[@gregverhasselt8357]

I've heard of farms feeding the rejects. Cattle do well

[@robertvazquez35]

They used to have a processing plant in Sacramento back in the day now it's a winery go figure.

[@rickcruz3382]

Yeah we would pick up sugar beets off the side of the road when driving from Solano co to Sacramento like 40+ yrs ago

[@terrianncollier]

You r asome

[@silentfades]

@13craj much thanks

[@bugbomb8048]

Monsanto is how you spell corruption on a biblical scale and I’m sure American Crystal isn’t as farmer friendly as they could be

[@jaredbaratono897]

It’s actually farmer owned.

[@DeKempster]

Why not using a dedicated harvester?

[@maxhallman1036]

Not many self propelled harvesters here

[@sanyasiraosenapathi3164]

Dear Friends The Yield of SUGAR FROM SUGAR BEATS MAY BE 10 % TO 18 % BY WEIGHT . The remaining part moisture avaparates, White past can be made as by product for one or the other usage. Pl let us share the details for general knowledge. Warm Regards S S Rao.

[@larbilemriche6551]

S.anyasirao Senapathi

[@garlandremingtoniii4679]

Sanyasirao Senapathi Thank you. Old boy.

[@oliviagomez815]

Sugar beets, evaporates, paste.

[@jaredbaratono897]

Actually, the factory I work at captures the water, treats it, and puts it into the municipal water supply.

[@fredrock7264]

Is beet sugar as sweet as cane sugar?

[@davidworsley7969]

Plant manager "Randy Axeman" !!! What were his parents thinking ?

[@BobBob-kw2xq]

as a porhub expert, i recognized alot of the music.

[@jamesfranco2780]

Bob Bob 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@chechnya]

@13craj Do you know much about the difference between cane and beet sugars?