There’s no denying it was a tough harvest for the American Crystal Sugar Company. CEO Tom Astrup told shareholders during the annual meeting nearly one-third of planted acres are still in the field, with the fewest tons harvested since 1994. “Our only therapy is to roll up our sleeves and work to make the best of it and prepare the ground for next year.” Farmers are doing their best to move forward. Former board member and Amenia, North Dakota farmer Bill Hejl expressed a sense of gratitude. “All of our shareholders are remembering we’re in this together. We have to work together to make next year better,” he said. “It can be worse. The way to prepare is to go through all of our factories with a fine tooth comb. We’re debating whether to start slicing sugarbeets earlier than normal to supply sugar to the market. We’ll do everything we can to get in the field in the spring. That’s everything. If you get in late, the whole year is late.”
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