Special Episode: Sugar Beet Harvest - America's Heartland

In this special episode, reporters Jason Shoultz and Sarah Gardner travel to Minnesota to get a first-hand look at the sugar beet industry in action. We'll learn how farmers in the region work together and around the clock to transform sugar beets fresh from the fields into the sugar products we find in our pantries.

At sugar processing factories across Minnesota, thousands of people labor almost without a moment's rest to pull beets are out of the ground and process them into sweet sugar. You might not think of sugar coming from oversized white beets, but that's exactly what happens once they get to the factory. Hundreds of workers are required to help deliver the beets, dumping them into huge piles, ready for processing. It all requires the perfect confluence of ideal weather, synchronized work, and relentless willpower.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• America's Heartland
• agriculture
• farm
• ranch
• rancher
• farmer
• sugar beets
• sugar
• minnesota
• harvest
• food
• sustainable agriculture
• commodities

[sedwarg]

THE dumbest documentary ever made

[Menderen]

ohh, so sugar comes from sugar beets,

come on who did not know that.

[8213NATE]

Interesting video. I'm actually sitting in a loader as I type this a the Western Sugar factory in Billings, MT. Only have 4 more days til all the beets piles have been hauled off.

[BUKOPIE78]

@TheNovemberPapa and not to mention the" how important this machine to you?"

[nadoeloiskat]

@TheNovemberPapa Yep,

questions like how much sugar the raw beets contains wasnt there at all.

[1qa211]

why not get a self propelled harvester, you wo't have to top it,and the trucks won't have to drive beside you so you save a lot of diesel!

[anuangelseyes]

...so is it diabetes... or....diaBEETes...hmmm ..make you think!!

[TheNovemberPapa]

The question by the reporters are kind of crap.

E.g.:

Q: What would you do if this machine wouldn't work?

A: I wouldn't do anything!

That's a hell of a question!!!

[13craj]

@chechnya ya, well my family is, im a teenager so im kinda forced to be, i just know a lot about it, but it is VERY profitable i know that, every acre of sugar beets can produce up to 30 tons of beets and beets go for big buck per ton

[chechnya]

@13craj Thanks for the explanation. So you're a beet farmer? That's cool.