California faces the potential end of its sugar beet harvest as the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative plans to close the Spreckels Sugar Company factory, impacting over 700 jobs. The closure is attributed to rising operational costs and economic challenges in the sugar industry, pushing the company to relocate operations to Minnesota. With strict federal limits on sugar processing, the Imperial Valley will lose its beet processing capabilities, affecting a $243 million industry. Local officials are attempting to establish a new processing plant, but face significant challenges in doing so.
"This was a difficult decision brought about by factors largely out of our control," said Paul Fry, the company's president and CEO, in the news release. "Despite our extensive investments in the facility, the economic challenges facing the sugar industry have been building for several years as the costs of operating the Spreckels facility have continued to escalate."
Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative is moving all of its sugar operations to its Minnesota factory. The company explained in a news release that the Brawley facility in the Imperial Valley was no longer financially viable.
Over half of the sugar produced in the U.S. comes from sugar beets, rather than sugar cane, so demand for the crop is still high. But the federal government places strict limits on which sugar processing companies can make beet sugar, meaning that once the Spreckels Sugar factory closes, the Imperial Valley will no longer be allowed to process beets.
Some members of the Imperial County Board of Supervisors aren't giving up yet, though, and recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to seek permission to build a new beet sugar plant. However, county chair John Hawk told KPBS-TV that it looked like it would be a very tough battle.
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