Sugarbeet and sugarcane farmers from across the country recently spent two weeks in Washington, D.C., meeting with lawmakers as part of the American Sugar Alliance’s annual fly-in. Farmers used the meetings to highlight the financial pressures facing the sugar industry and push for stronger farm policies and support for producers. Halstad, Minnesota sugarbeet grower Rachel Arneson says rising input costs combined with falling sugar prices are creating a difficult financial situation for farmers. “Sugarbeet farmers lost an average of $500 an acre last season, and those types of losses are unsustainable. It’s going to be very difficult to get out into the field this spring and plant a crop knowing that we will lose money again if the market doesn’t recover.” Arneson says many farm families are worried about the long-term viability of their operations. “Farmers are under immense stress, and for many of us, our multi-generational family operations are hanging in the balance. I have a daughter, and I want her to have the opportunity to be the 6th generation to farm.”
