The Red River Valley Sugarbeet Museum in Crookston is proud to announce that they have chosen the Lyle Kiel family as their Honored Family of 2019. Lyle was a farmer five miles south of Crookston and was elected President of the Red River Valley Sugarbeet Growers Association in 1961 during a time of much dissension between the company and the growers. The work of Lyle and Gerhard Ross paved the way for the Growers Association purchase of the company in 1972. Lyle’s father Al was one of the first fieldsmen for American Crystal.
Lyle was also an inventor, who in 1957 developed the first operational row finder and received a patent in 1961. This mechanism kept the beet harvesters on the row and greatly reduced the amount of loss caused by being off the row. Today every harvester has a row finder on it. He also invented a rotovator which is basically a bunch of narrow rototillers that work up a six to eight-inch strip in the stubble into which the beet row could be planted. With this invention, Lyle was before his time, as strip-tilling is just starting to be tried.
Lyle’s son Lonn took over the farm and was on the American Crystal Board for twelve years. Christian, Lyle’s grandson, is now operating the farm. Lonn’s wife Deb serves as the State Representative from this region.
The museum would like to congratulate the Lyle Kiel Family for their continued dedication and leadership to the sugarbeet industry.
