WINNIPEG (Staff) – Controversy forces people to take notice.
That’s why sugar beet producers in Manitoba recently decided to release a confidential study they commissioned about a year ago. They want the processor and provincial and federal governments to pay attention to and make decisions on their industry.
Ken Yuill, president of the sugar beet growers’ association, described the report as provocative. The group hired Winnipeg consultant Brian Kelly to study options for marketing beets.
Kelly looked at how growers would benefit if:
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- They shipped beets to the American Crystal Sugar Company in North Dakota.
- American Crystal bought the Winnipeg plant, now owned by Rogers Sugar.
- Growers bought the plant.
- They become partners with Rogers and American Crystal in the Winnipeg plant.
- They work with Alberta growers to buy both Canadian processing plants.
- They build a new plant in Manitoba.
Kelly also looked at another option, which was blanked out of the report. Yuill said it was so “far-out” that it won’t be made available.
Yuill said scenarios involving the American Crystal plant are now out of the picture since the U.S. put up a tariff wall against sugar beet imports last summer.
But he added that almost anything is up for consideration. “Today is new times and things change. And maybe what wasn’t viable last year or 10 years ago could be.”
In the study, the consultant concluded the two best scenarios would be selling beets to North Dakota, or the deleted option. Yuill said growers have not narrowed down their options, but they want more control.
“This time around, if (growers) don’t have a vested interest in the operation of the processing, they aren’t going to be too interested in continuing production,” Yuill said.
