American Crystal Sugar Company beet shareholders who had to leave beets in the field this fall will have to pay $343 per acre to the company to help cover fixed costs. According to American Crystal, they usually receive around 11.5 million tons of beets and this year they only had about 65% of that with 7.5 million tons.
As KROX reported on Monday, American Crystal had to stop taking beets as of November 9 due to poor beet conditions as well as high levels of mud and leaves, making it uneconomical to process additional beets.
American Crystal will hold Factory district meetings in Crookston, East Grand Forks, Hillsboro, Drayton and Moorhead next week.
In other sugar news – according to the Red River Farm Network –
Three weeks ago, the U.S. Court of International Trade vacated the 2017 sugar suspension agreement between the U.S. and Mexico. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion to stay the court’s ruling for 90 days. According to an American Sugar Alliance spokesperson, the stay is necessary to ensure everyone has time to file comments with the Department of Commerce. It also gives the Department of Commerce time to follow proper procedure. The Mexican government and sugar industry have asked the U.S. government to reinstate the suspension agreements without change – a stance supported by U.S. producers. The U.S. Department of Commerce is asking for comments from interested parties.
