Sugar producers in the Red River Valley, a region straddling Minnesota and North Dakota, were honored to welcome Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Senator John Hoeven (ND) and Congresswoman Julie Fedorchak (ND-At Large) for a visit last week.
Secretary Rollins, Senator Hoeven and Congresswoman Fedorchak participated in both a roundtable and a sugar production tour, where they saw sugar being extracted from sugarbeets at the American Crystal Sugar Company factory.
Along the way, Secretary Rollins spent time with 16-year-old JD Nelson, a future sugarbeet farmer.
In another tweet, Secretary Rollins said that JD is her hero. It’s pretty safe to say that the feeling is mutual.
Click here to watch JD’s message to Secretary Rollins on Instagram.
Senator John Hoeven also said that “JD and his family represent the future of farming in the Red River Valley.”
That couldn’t be more true. The next morning before school, JD was back in the field working alongside his dad James and grandfather Jimmie to plant this year’s sugarbeet crop.
Watch spring planting on the Nelson family farm.
Three generations working together to grow the plants used to make all-natural, American-made sugar. JD hopes to one day farm full-time, and that can only happen with strong farm policies.
Secretary Rollins, Senator Hoeven, and Congresswoman Fedorchak also spent time talking with Neil Rockstad, a fourth-generation farmer who grows sugarbeets and serves on both the Board of Directors for American Crystal Sugar Company and as President of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association, and Marilyn Backman, a first-generation sugarbeet farmer who grows for Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative and serves as a member of their Board of Directors.
A strong U.S. sugar policy puts American family farmers like JD, Neil, and Marilyn first, supports multi-generational farmer and worker families, and keeps us reliably supplied with sugar.
We are so grateful for leaders who listen to the voices of our sugarbeet and sugarcane farmers.