History of Sugar Beet Production in Nebraska

History, Nebraska 6 Minutes

Nebraska’s Panhandle is in the far western portion of the state, and plays a major role in the state’s agricultural economy. One of the specialty crops with the greatest significance to the state economy is sugar beets, and it is unique to western Nebraska and concentrated in the Panhandle. Approximately 90% of the sugar beets grown in Nebraska are produced in the Panhandle. Most production occurs in Scotts Bluff, Morrill, and Box Butte counties, but acreage is increasing in Sheridan, Banner, Kimball, Cheyenne, Chase, Keith, and Perkins counties.

Harvest Begins in the Panhandle

Nebraska currently ranks 6th in the U.S. in production and generally ranges between 45,000-60,000 acres planted per year, with a high of 80,000 in 2000. Sugar beets contribute economically through both the production and processing industries and are estimated to contribute more than $130,000,000 to the local economy through payrolls, property taxes, and other impacts.

Geography and Climate

Sugar beets have been successfully produced in Nebraska for nearly 100 years. This is due, in part, to a number of environmental factors characteristic of the western part of the state. Sugar beets need long days (approximately 140 growing days) with sunshine and abundant moisture during the season.

This region typically produces an average of 135-160 clear days per year, which is ideal for sugar beets. The elevation ranges from 3,000-5,000 ft and the resulting hot days and cool nights provide excellent conditions for development and storage of sucrose in the tap roots. The Panhandle additionally has a high desert-type semi-arid climate receiving 14-16 inches rainfall per year. This provides an additional advantage for western Nebraska – an arid climate that helps reduce incidence and severity of several important foliar disease problems that traditionally plague the Minnesota-North Dakota, and Michigan producers, such as Cercospora leaf spot. Although levels of required moisture in Nebraska are generally deficient for proper plant growth, this problem is solved by supplementation with irrigation.

Irrigation

The Panhandle grows about 700,000 acres of irrigated crops, including all sugar beets produced in Nebraska. Irrigation in Nebraska began in the early 1890’s in Scotts Bluff County to augment alfalfa hay production for livestock for winter feeding. This led to development of irrigation in other introduced crops like sugar beets, and later dry beans. Early efforts were small, furnished by local capital. After the Reclamation Service was established, dams were built across the North Platte River in Wyoming, thus paving the way for a complex series of canals to be built across Scotts Bluff County in western Nebraska.

Furrow System Irrigation

These canals became the lifeblood of this region and enabled producers to irrigate beets through furrow systems, which still predominate in the North Platte Valley of Scotts Bluff and Morrill Counties. With the introduction of the center pivot irrigation systems and the vast quantities of water available from the Ogallala aquifer, the acreage has been able to spread beyond the Valley to the tablelands north and south of the North Platte River. Approximately two-thirds of the production is now irrigated by center pivots.

Center Pivot Irrigation

Sugar Beets Begin in Nebraska

Sugar production in Nebraska began in 1890, with the first factory being established in Grand Island. This was also the second factory to operate successfully in the United States (after the first in Albany, CA). Weather related problems yielded low crop levels and farmers became discouraged with continuation of sugar beet production. The state of Nebraska then offered a bounty of one cent per pound on sugar produced in Nebraska to encourage the industry to expand. Other factories were then built in Norfolk and Ames in 1891 and 1899, respectively.

The farmers in the Norfolk area eventually discovered that they received better returns raising corn and livestock than sugar beets, and the factory was closed in 1905. The factory in Ames was built by the Standard Beet Company, which soon recognized the potential for the sugar beet industry in the North Platte Valley.

By 1900, enough sugar beets had been raised in the Panhandle to convince farmers that their land was suitable for this crop. It was then determined that a more extensive means of irrigation was necessary than that used by early homesteaders if the crop was going to significantly expand. Thus, the Tri-State Land Company was founded and set out to develop irrigation throughout the Valley.

In 1909, land was acquired, a factory site was secured, and Great Western Sugar Company bought the factory previously located in Ames, Nebraska and moved it to Scottsbluff. For the 1910 season, twelve thousand acres were contracted at $5.00 a ton and the factory was completed in time for the fall crop, beginning the foundation for sugar beets becoming the great agricultural industry it is today.

Delivering Sugar Beets in Scottsbluff

Social and Economic Influences

By 1904-1905, contract acres from the Standard Beet Sugar Company for sugar beets approached 300. However, many of the farmers in Scotts Bluff County were unfamiliar with the process of sugar beet production. In order to fulfill high potential for this area, efforts were made to recruit help from more experienced growers.

It was at this time that the German-Russians (referred to as “beeters”) from Lincoln and Omaha were enticed to come to the North Platte Valley. These workers first came to the Panhandle seasonally in spring at planting, and returning in the fall after harvest. Their experience with sugar beets dated back to their time in Europe, and was also essential in the initial efforts to produce beets in eastern Nebraska.

By 1924, two-thirds of the sugar beet workers in Scotts Bluff County were German-Russians. As they became more Americanized, they began to find other jobs that would sustain them for the entire year, and their numbers decreased in sugar beet fields. Many also settled in the Scottsbluff area and became landowners after thriftily saving their money to buy land. Today much of the land in Scotts Bluff County is owned by second and third generation descendants of the original German-Russian “beeters.”

In 1905 the acreage planted was less than 300, with yields of seven tons per acre. By the late 1920’s – early 1930’s, farmers in the Valley were growing up to 80,000 acres with yields of 12 tons per acre. As the volume of sugar beet production increased over the years, it became apparent that greater processing capacity was needed. This led to the construction of more factories, including those at Gering (1916), Bayard (1917), Mitchell (1920), Minatare (1926), and Lyman (1927). There were additionally beet dumps established in McGrew and Melbeta near the railroads for easy transportation to Scottsbluff or Minatare for processing, similar to the process in place today. In fact, the name chosen for the town “Melbeta” translates as “sweet beet” in German.

Summary

Irrigation was the major factor in the establishment of the sugar beet industry in western Nebraska. Secondly, the railroads were likewise very influential as they provided transportation to move the beets from field to factory and then to market. They also allowed coal to be brought into the area to furnish fuel for operating the factories. In turn, sugar beets were directly responsible for the immigration and settling of descendants for many of the county’s current residents. Thus, sugar beets were not only responsible for the ethnic makeup of western Nebraska, but also for the economic development and improvement of the area.

Sugar Beet Field

The cultivation of sugar beets enabled the development of roads, expansion of railroads, improvement of schools, and growth and spatial arrangement of cities and farms in Scotts Bluff County. The number of farms increased from 421 in 1900 to 1391 in 1920. The number of people per square mile in the county increased from 2.6 in 1880 to 28.8 in 1920. The increase in population between 1910 and 1920 was more than 147%, one of the highest percentages of population gains in the United States.

Digging Sugar Beets

Therefore, the development of the sugar beet industry could arguably be the single most important and influential factor in the county, from the building of the sugar factory in 1910 to the present, and has defined Scotts Bluff County as it is known today.

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Published by NebraskaFilly

Army veteran (1976-1979), retired with entirely too much time on my hands

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63 thoughts on “History of Sugar Beet Production in Nebraska”

  1. Good morning y’all! Beets are one of the crops that I am not so good at growing. We try every year, but never get but a handful of decent sized ones. Will have to try the furrow method next time. We did get some okra planted yesterday and will finish getting the beans and tomatoes in today. Hope y’all have a good weekend!

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Morning CM!
      sounds like you were busy yesterday!
      we’ve never tried beets before.
      we do fine with spinach, tomatoes, peppers and occasionally zucchini but our garden is small…hubby’s not a big vegetable fan.

      Liked by 2 people

    3. And these aren’t the same beets you are thinking of, CM. They are different from the dark purple beets.

      EXCERPT: “While sugar beet fields may not be a familiar sight in your area, their end products are more common than you might think. In fact, sugar beets, along with sugar cane, are one of the leading raw materials for sugar in the United States—with sugar beets accounting for just a bit more than half of the nation’s production.

      But did you know that sugar beets are successfully grown in warmer climates, too? In fact, many smaller farmers and landowners across the country are discovering the benefits of this unique crop for uses that don’t involve a sugar bowl. Sugar beets are an increasingly popular food plot choice for wildlife enthusiasts, who are finding that they tend to draw deer by the dozens. And sugar beets make a great crop for growers looking to add another feed source for livestock.

      For growers new to the crop who are looking to get started, read on for tips on planting and proper cultivation, as well as information on feeding to livestock and hints on incorporating sugar beets into a wildlife supplemental food plot feeding program.

      Planting sugar beets

      Sugar beets are similar to the familiar red-rooted garden beet, but are much larger, reaching about 2 to 4 pounds when mature. They tend to have shiny, white roots, and as you might guess, a high sugar content, containing 13 to 22 percent sucrose.”

      https://www.southernstates.com/farm-store/articles/how-to-grow-sugar-beets

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Yeah, I meant just the regular type. I think ours are Detroit Red. Will have to try to furrow plant them like the sugar beets, maybe that will help.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. today’s FFS entry…copied from tcth

    Troublemaker10
    May 1, 2022 12:30 am

    Excuse me, What?

    *******

    Why are midwives being told that biological men can give birth?

    Excerpt:

    Course materials obtained by the feminist website, Reduxx, and reported this week, contain some truly jaw dropping lines Napier university is telling its students:

    ‘It is important to note that while most times the birthing person will have female genitalia, you may be caring for a pregnant or birthing person who is transitioning from male to female and may still have external male genitalia.’

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-are-midwives-being-told-that-biological-men-can-give-birth-

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Liked by 1 person

  9. this morning I saw this unusual (at least for us) bird that we never saw before…after consulting the Audubon Guide, i found out it was a brown thrasher…beautiful bird!

    Liked by 2 people

  10. oh…almost forgot…while we were at pizza hut, there was a commercial on the tv about Ovuity. anybody ever hear of it? it’s an eye drop you use to “correct” age related farsightedness–in other words you can ditch your reading glasses. it works by shrinking the pupil but don’t quote me on that…

    Liked by 1 person

  12. very good plan for college loans…
    copied in full
    Student Loan ‘Forgiveness’?
    [Comments enabled]

    In a word: No.

    Biden has a bunch of scolds cheering this onward, and there are plenty of people who think it would be “popular.”

    If you’re one of them then you’re arguing against your own interest for political purposes, and that’s dumb.

    Broadly the problem with college education cost today is two-fold:

    It’s too expensive. Its expensive because the government subsidized it and removed risk computation in lending. This in turn made an effectively unlimited price payable by the “student”, even though said student had no income, no assets and no guarantee of ever being able to earn enough to both live in a reasonable fashion and make the debt service. This never happens in a free market because those who lend money in such a stupid fashion lose it when it can’t be repaid.

    Colleges do not care if they sell effectively-worthless educations. A college would care if it had to underwrite the loans and they were dischargeable in bankruptcy. If the only actual post-college market for a “gender studies” degree is teaching gender studies then (1) the price will be something that can be paid by someone teaching gender studies and (2) you won’t get a loan except on risk-adjusted terms that reflect that.

    If you want to solve the problem, in other words, the price has to come down and the lender has to take the risk of default and non-payment.

    Thus you do the following:

    College debt from this day forward is dischargeable in bankruptcy. Period. It’s unsecured debt — sort of.

    If your college debt is discharged your degree is void. That’s the hook to prevent “strategic” defaults, which was what goaded Congress into restricting defaults in the first place — a bunch of high-fautin people who decided to strategically default and eat the 7-year credit ding. Since there is no physical thing you can repossess but the degree has value and is what was bought then the correct answer is you revoke every credit-hour earned and thus the degree is revoked if a person files for bankruptcy and successfully throws off the debt. Congress can do this since Congress explicitly has the power to set uniform national bankruptcy law binding in all 50 states.

    The Federal Government gets entirely out of the college financing business. If colleges want to underwrite and carry the paper they can, at whatever price they want. Ditto for private lenders. The above two checks and balances will make very certain that nobody lends more than can, on a risk-adjusted basis across the pool of students, be paid and thus the price of the education will reflect the actual value in the marketplace.

    That’s it. Three simple steps, problem solved.

    #1 and #2 are opt in for all current student debt. This is entirely legal as well and shuts up the whiners. If you have a “worthless degree” then fine — turn it in, file bankruptcy, take the credit hit and go on with your life. When the price falls (and it will, like a stone) and you want to go get it again, have at it, this time at a more-reasonable cost. No, you don’t get credit for the other classes; you said they weren’t worth the money so they don’t count. That was your decision, so make if that is your call for both good and bad.

    If you simply want a FREE degree, on the other hand, and many people are arguing for exactly that — the right to steal the cost from other people — then this change will expose those who have as their actual intent grifting rather than truly being in trouble while making certain those who were in fact misled as young adults have a reasonable path forward.

    Fix the problem instead of screwing other people.

    https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=245752

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Sounds like an excellent idea to me! And equal financing opportunities must be made available to those attending community colleges and trade schools – ESPECIALLY trade schools!

      Liked by 1 person

  13. wow…sad, sad moment here.
    we were discussing the things we need to fix or get rid of and the Harley came up. we discussed many times converting it to a tryke…which i favor. Hubby today said he just wants to sell it. sigh. no conversion. no buying a tryke. wow…so sad!

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Hmmm……from the DC article: “Of Kelly’s alleged victims that have come forward, 76 identify as LGBTQ, according to NPR. Kelly was fired from the university after the initial 6 graduates made the allegations of sexual misconduct in 2018.”

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Entire article @ DC: “A private citizen in Sacramento, California reportedly barricaded a public street in an attempt to stop the disorder and crime plaguing the area where he owns property. “The city’s dereliction of duty has just come to a boiling point and I’m really just begging for help,” property owner Rich Eaton said, according to Fox 40. “We’re past this being a homeless issue. This is straight crime.”

    “It was like walking through a working meth lab to get to work,” claimed a local employee, the outlet reported. The area was allegedly home to prostitution, homelessness, regular car burglaries and illegally parked trailers. Eaton, who has been complaining about this situation for at least a year, claims he contacted the police and Mayor’s office to do something about the lawlessness but received no response.

    “I let them know, ‘Hey, the game is over. We’re taking back our street,” Eaton said in defense of blocking the street. “I paid some homeless people some money so they would leave. I fed them; I took care of them and helped them and when Railroad Drive was cleared. I put up barriers,” Eaton said.

    Finally, the city responded to the situation…to warn Eaton to stop blocking the street, Fox 40 reported. He is now suing the City of Sacramento.

    This incident comes three years after Democratic Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg claimed he was working on “bold approaches” to tackle homelessness.”

    Liked by 1 person

  16. EXCERPT: “A high school in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) created a “Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion,” or “JEDI,” section of the school’s library during the 2021 school year.

    Students in the high school’s Young Republican Club requested a section to “counterbalance” the ideology and are allegedly being stonewalled by administrators, according to an educator who spoke to the Daily Caller on the condition of anonymity.

    Left-wing books, including “Stamped,” by anti-racist scholar Ibram X. Kendi and “So You Want To Talk About Race,” by Ijeoma Oiuo, are on a special display at Chantilly High School, according to photos obtained by the Daily Caller. A teacher said the “JEDI” library section — a name that is deemed problematic by activists — is featured in a “prominent” spot in the public school’s library.

    In response to the “JEDI” library section, the Young Republican Club at Chantilly High School requested the school allow them to create a section to “counterbalance” the left-wing narrative. Students and educators told the Daily Caller that they do not wish to see the “JEDI” section removed.”


    ————————–
    An FCPS educator — who spoke to the Daily Caller on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the district — said that the terms and conditions would be more limiting for conservatives as the school allegedly pushes a left-wing ideology.

    Chantilly High School’s principal also sent the Young Republican Club correspondence from FCPS’ Head of Library Service Priscille Dando. Dando argued that the “JEDI” section upholds FCPS’ “priority of keeping equity at the center of all that we do.”

    “I believe a display on the concepts of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion is appropriate. Displays highlight different aspects of the library collection and will appeal to a variety of interests and readers,” Dando said. “Given that FCPS has a stated priority of keeping equity at the center of all that we do and that FCPS Regulation 3013 indicates that library collections ‘should support the diverse interests, needs, and viewpoints of the school community,’ I believe books on these topics belong in the library.”

    https://dailycaller.com/2022/04/28/fairfax-county-public-schools-diversity-library/

    Liked by 1 person

  17. IDR now where I found this earlier today – comment thread @ QT or CTH, I think – but it is a very long, in-depth explanation of the situation in Ukraine – NOT from the woo-woo perspective.

    EXCERPT: “Ukrainian academic, Olga Baysha, author of Democracy, Populism, and Neoliberalism in Ukraine: On the Fringes of the Virtual and the Real, has studied Zelensky’s rise to power and how he has wielded that power since becoming president.

    In the interview below, Baysha discusses Zelensky’s embrace of neoliberalism and increasing authoritarianism, how his actions contributed to the current war; his counterproductive and self-absorbed leadership throughout the war, the complex cultural and political views and identities of Ukrainians, the partnership between neoliberals and the radical right during and after the Maidan uprising and whether a Russian takeover of the entire Donbass region might be less popular among the local population than it would have been in 2014.”

    https://consortiumnews.com/2022/04/29/ukraine-the-real-zelensky/

    Liked by 1 person

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  24. That’s not joe

    Joe Biden: Ronald Reagan said, ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear this wall down.’ Today’s Republicans say, “Tear down Mickey Mouse’s house!” and pretty soon they’ll be storming Cinderella’s castle.

    Biden Laughs After Trevor Noah Roasts Him: “Since You’ve Come Into Office, Things Are Really Looking Up – Gas Is Up, Rent is Up, Food is Up!”

    Joe Biden Calls Trump “a Horrible Plague” at White House Correspondents’ Dinner and Liberal Reporters Laugh and Applaud

    President Joe Biden on Saturday joked about the popular “Let’s Go Brandon” movement at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner during his speech.

    “The Republicans do seem to be supporting one person: Some guy named Brandon,” Biden said as the crowd laughed. “He’s having a really good year. And I’m kind of happy for him.”

    Biden kicked off his speech with a joke about Donald Trump.

    “This is the first time a President attended this dinner in six years,” Biden said. “It’s understandable. We had a horrible plague followed by two years of COVID.”

    “Just imagine my predecessor came to this dinner this year,” Biden added. “Now that would really have been a real coup if that occurred.”

    The president also mocked leading Republicans Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Gov. Ron DeSantis.

    “There’s nothing I can say about the GOP that Kevin McCarthy hasn’t already put on tape,” he joked, referring to conversations with leading Republicans that were leaked to New York Times reporters.

    Biden joked that DeSantis and Florida Republicans were much different from Ronald Reagan, who once called for the Berlin Wall to be torn down.

    “Today’s Republicans say, ‘Tear down Mickey Mouse’s house,” Biden joked. “And pretty soon they’ll be storming Cinderella’s castle. You can be sure of it.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Hi kea!
      I didn’t see much of that video…but he was certainly more animated and cognizant than shit-for-brains normally seems…

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Good night Filly!
      it’s spring turkey season here. two of the hunting camps have been shooting ALL AFTERNOON!
      it sounded like a frickin’ war zone…I couldn’t stand it so i took my quilting stuff and hid in the back room where i couldn’t hear it as much

      Liked by 1 person

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