As the month of September comes to a close, we look 30 days ahead to permanent piling. Recent weather has turned in our favor with rainfall and cooler temperatures. We wait anxiously for what Mother Nature has in store for us and we carefully plan to take care of her blessings. Will we get the sugar we want? Will we get the tons we are estimating? We will know in due time. That’s where trust and faith come in the world of agriculture.

Our campaign is off to a great start! Growers and employees are diligently at work mastering their crafts. For the details, here goes…

Our current yield estimate is 30.5 tons per acre. Sugars seem stagnant (recent lab average is 16.7%), but upcoming cooler temps should help! Time is flying by…only 30 days or so before permanent piling begins. 

Root Aphids

With the dry weather in some of our growing area, we are seeing damage from root aphids. We encourage fields with known problems to be dug early so these compromised beets are not stored during permanent piling. 

Factory startup saw expected ramp up issues, but they all seem to be hitting stride now. We saw several days of combined slice numbers north of 20,000 tons per day. Off-season training and equipment tweaks at the Crowell factory paid dividends. They have had several days where slice numbers exceeded 5,000 tons per day. 

Recruiting Efforts

Recruiting efforts are in full force as we attempt to staff factories and piling grounds for harvest. Our human resources department continues to hold job fairs and local recruiting events, in partnership with Michigan Works. Vacancies in the factory are much reduced as we see COVID subside, wages increase, and attention to recruiting more focused.

Capital Budget

Yesterday, the Board approved an $8.5M capital budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. This year’s budget is much reduced as we come off several years of major capital expenditures to increase Croswell slice and double our capacity to desugar molasses. Below is capital spending for the past several years:  

2020 – 25+ million

2021 – 37+ million

2022 – 52+ million

National Real Sugar Day

Michigan Sugar Company, in partnership with The Sugar Association and our fellow sugar producers across the United States, are gearing up to celebrate the inaugural National Real Sugar Day on Friday, Oct. 14. The idea behind the day was sparked earlier this year by Rob Clark, Director of Communications & Community Relations, during a meeting of The Sugar Association’s Communications Committee. The Sugar Association applied to establish the day through the well known National Day Calendar and the application was among a handful to be approved this year. Approval sets Oct. 14 each year as National Real Sugar Day. In the lead up to the celebration, you’ll begin to see social media posts referencing the day and there are all kinds of activities planned for the day itself, including the return of Michigan Sugar Company’s baking competitions held in collaboration with WSGW and The Maytag Store. On Oct. 14, we’ll host the Sweet Treat Bake-off with eight local, amateur bakers creating a dessert using Pioneer Sugar for the contest. Also that day, we’ll go live on Facebook from Jake Maurer’s farm in Ruth as part of a nationwide social media broadcast aimed at getting out the message that sugar comes from plants and that one of those plants is sugarbeets. There’s also a Spotify playlist being created to celebrate sugar and all its sweetness. You can find it at https://spoti.fi/3DIoCYF. There are so many other ways to celebrate National Real Sugar day. You can find additional suggestions and learn more about the day online at www.michigansugar.com. Once there, click on the “About” tab and scroll down to “Latest News.”

CEO Search

The CEO search process kicked off this week. Michigan Sugar Company officers were given the opportunity to meet with the search firm, Kincannon & Reed, to express thoughts and ideas about the characteristics they feel are needed for the CEO position. The Board of Directors held an executive session yesterday, to organize how the process will look going forward. A CEO profile will later be developed, after all board members have had an opportunity to meet personally with the recruiting professionals. 

Beet Payment

At their meeting yesterday, the Board of Directors approved a final payment of $0.0175/adjusted pound of sugar delivered. This is a total of $27M which equates to approximately $176/acre for all beets, early and regular, delivered. This payment will be paid on October 25, 2022.

The total gross payment, before retains, is $0.1384/adjusted pound of sugar delivered, or $1,393/acre. A retain of $1.26/ton was approved, leaving the total cash payment to growers of $1,346/acre, on average, or $0.1337/adjusted pound of sugar delivered.

May we be at peace with how we conduct ourselves as a cooperative entering harvest. May we see and understand the needs of each other and act with kindness and compassion when facing adversity and challenge. May we have strength to persevere, the heart to feel someone’s struggle, and mindful thoughts to speak kind words to our fellow employees and growers. May we keep the faith and find gratitude in our daily journey. 

The Board of Directors approved the purchase of 20 shares at yesterday's meeting, for a total of 5,544 shares transferred/sold this year.