When Governor Tim Walz was in Crookston last week for the Ag Innovation Campus groundbreaking ceremony, he also made a second stop in town at American Crystal.
Governor Walz said he wanted to check on how things had gone this year after the recent struggles, notably the wet conditions during the 2019 harvest. “It was awful last year,” said Walz. “This region’s gone through a lot and pile on COVID and some of the uncertainties, it’s good to hear. They’re saying not a huge harvest, but a good one. I’ve had the pleasure of being here quite a few times with my time in Congress. I’m proud of this industry, of what they’ve done. Sugar harvest is an amazing thing, how much produce is moved so quickly. They did it, did it safely, with so many trucks on the road and late nights. And they did it in the middle of a pandemic without getting folks sick. Well done.”
Crookston Factory Manager Ryan Wall told Walz that it was a record harvest for speed of completion, and the weather has remained favorable. “Harvest finished up pretty good this year,” said Wall. “It was nice, dry conditions. We were able to get everything out of the ground and stored in about 16 days which was a record for us. That was nice to see in comparison to the previous two seasons – last year when we weren’t able to harvest 100 percent of the crop and the year before where it drug out into November as well. Cool temps in so far have been favorable for storing the beets and looking at a nice processing campaign to finish sometime next spring.”
Wall also shared some of the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has created. From possible employees not applying for positions because of the increased unemployment benefits to the additional safety precautions to battle the pandemic itself. “It’s good for us to be able to tell our story of what is going on especially with the pandemic,” Wall. “Tell him some of the challenges we see with dealing with COVID both in the factory and our harvest setting. It affects both the piling stations and operations within the factory. He touched on some things regarding when vaccines will be coming out, the model of getting it out quickly, it was good to hear.”
Wall told Walz that the harvest didn’t have a single COVID-19 case spread through American Crystal. Wall also explained that testing is a challenge because results can take up to five days. Walz said the hope is to increase the ease of testing and getting results. “We’re in a pretty tough time right now,” said Walz. “I think the speed we can do testing and make it easier for people. The State of Minnesota wants you to have one in your home, FedEx it, and get the results the next day. I think the federal government has done a good job around preparation for a vaccine and distribution. I trust the FDA that all the safeguards will be in place. ”
Walz also said he believes a COVID-19 vaccine could be ready in early 2021, and that Minnesota was helping to create a distribution plan that would be implemented across the nation. “It looks like this vaccine is going to take one, and then, a few weeks later take a second dose,” said Walz. “The vaccine in some cases is going to have to be stored ultra-cold, 90 below zero. You have to have storage facilities and how they move that. Five states were picked to be pilots to put this (distribution) study together, Minnesota was one of those. We submitted that to the federal government. They are going to use that for the rest of the country. I feel confident that once the vaccine comes online, the production is going to be higher than we’ve ever seen, and then, the distribution of it. I think looking past the first part of the year there is a lot of reasons to be optimistic.”
