BAY CITY, Mich. – Think of Michigan agriculture and it’s correct to think of cherries, apples and blueberries. But sugarbeets?

It was the death of the lumbering industry in the late 1800s that gave birth to the sugarbeet industry. After loggers had cleared the pine forests in the Saginaw area, the land was virtually unusable due to the massive expanse of tree stumps left behind. The sugarbeet was looked at as something to replace the economic void in the area left by the lumber industry.

A few farmers were experimenting with the sugarbeet in the 1870s. Many found success with the new veggie, so Dr. Robert Kedzie, a professor of chemistry at Michigan State Agriculture College, examined the beet’s potential in the region. Kedzie gave his blessing for farmers across the state to start growing the vegetable.

“Three crops of beets, grown in three successive years, are worth as much as one crop of pine trees, which require 100 years to mature,” Kedzie once said.

In 1887, the industry got its official start when the state legislature passed a bill offering sugarbeet processors a bounty of 1 cent per pound of sugar, providing the farmers received $4 per ton of beets yielding 12 percent sugar content.

Over the next century, there was tremendous growth in the industry, with sugarbeets accounting for 52 percent of the sugar used in the United States.

Today, sugarbeets are a significant crop in Michigan, with approximately 140,000 acres planted and harvested each year by 865 grower-owners, producing around 1.3 billion pounds of sugar annually. The state ranks fifth in the nation for sugarbeet production, with the Saginaw Valley and Thumb area contributing over 90 percent of the crop grown east of the Mississippi River.

The Michigan Sugar Co. is the major beet company in Michigan, founded in 1906. In 2002, the company became a grower-owned cooperative. It is the third-largest sugarbeet processor in the United States and operates sugarbeet processing facilities and warehouses in several locations across Michigan, Ohio and Ontario. The company processes sugarbeets into Pioneer Sugar and operates under the Pioneer brand.

One of those grower-owners is Clint Hagen, a sixth-generation sugarbeet grower from Ubly, Mich. Hagen is the recently elected vice president of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association board of directors. His family farm produces 4,100 acres of sugarbeets. Clint, along with his brother Brad, and their 20 employees, runs Atwater Farms Inc. in Huron County. Clint and Brad also grow edible beans and white wheat.

Hagen’s father and uncle were raising beef cattle as late as 1994, but then the two decided to part ways. Hagen’s uncle took over the cattle farm, but eventually got into the sugarbeets business like so many others in their county.

“At the beginning we had no knowledge whatsoever of sugarbeets,” Hagen said. “Through the years I’ve grown or helped grow a variety of crops. Sugarbeets are far and away my favorite crop to grow.”

Those at Briolats Farm, also in Ubly, have become avid sugarbeet growers over time. While the Briolats have farmed for more than 75 years on their land, sugarbeets were a relatively new crop to them in the mid-1980s. What started with planting 100 acres of sugarbeets has turned into around 450 acres and harvesting 30 to 34 tons per acre, well beyond what they could have imagined back then. They’re also huge fans of this cooperative in Michigan.

“You’re making decisions for the long term, weighing investments, asking who’s tried what and what worked,” said Mike Briolat, who manages Briolat Farms alongside his brother, Steve, and son, Justin. “It’s all about making things better for your members and your community.”

Each fall the beets are sliced at the company’s factories and turned into sugar annually. The sugar is sold to industrial, commercial and retail customers under the Pioneer Sugar brand. The company’s annual direct economic impact is roughly $700 million.

During the early days of harvest (known as “early dig”) sugarbeet growers harvest only enough beets daily to feed the factories. The full harvest (known as “permanent pile”) starts mid- to late-October and involves piling sugarbeets for storage and processing through the winter months.

In 2025, roughly 27.84 tons of sugarbeets were produced per acre, with the sugar contest averaging 15.5 percent. Officials said that Mother Nature determines the tonnage and sugar percentage.

And there’s more. Michigan Sugar Co/’s co-products include pressed pulp, a key ingredient in livestock rations, especially for dairy and beef cattle, and dried pulp. This is a nutritious and absorptive feed for cattle and horses, as well as poultry, elk, swine and pet food.

Another by-product, betaine, an amino acid, is an excellent supplement in broiler nutrition, helping birds reduce stress while improving meat production.

Raffinate, known as “beet juice,” is yet another by-product that enhances livestock feed as it is a good source of protein. It is surprisingly versatile and can also be used as a de-icing agent on roads, as a more environmentally friendly alternative to road salt.

Michigan is one of 11 states where sugarbeets are grown.