Laura Rutherford

Jill Thompson raises sugarbeets with her husband, and the family always has had a passion for cooking. They've started The Little Kitchen in Grafton, North Dakota, to share their passion for food.

Frontier lawman and businessman Seth Bullock wanted to bring sugarbeets to South Dakota. The state had a short-lived industry that included using German POWs for labor. But its legacy lives on.

Michael “Mitch” Dusek started his YouTube channel to give people around the world a firsthand look at sugarbeet production and daily life on an American family farm.

Dr. Richard A. McGinnis and his friend James H. Fischer wanted to create a school to teach the fundamentals of sugarbeet factory equipment, processes and operations, as well as the latest technology and scientific knowledge. Their idea now is in its 50th year of educating students on sugarbeet…

Earl Mallinger is American Crystal Sugar’s oldest shareholder and likely one of the nation’s oldest farmers. He celebrated his 105th birthday on Aug. 14, 2022, and continues to farm about 1,000 acres near Oslo, Minnesota.

The main goal of the tour was to demystify where sugar comes from and humanize the sugar industry to these influential experts, according to Dr. Courtney Gaine, the president and CEO of the Sugar Association.