Sugariii

THE BIG STORY Sunday, November 13, 2016 | magicvalley.com | SECTION B

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

Farmers Daniel Hepworth and Ron Hepworth dig up and deliver sugar beets Oct. 14 near Murtaugh. ‘It’s the first crop in the ground and the last crop out,’ Ron says. ‘I love it. It gets into my blood. And it pays the bills.’

THE SUGAR YEAR BEET HARVEST BRINGS GENERATIONS INTO THE FIELDS MYCHEL MATTHEWS

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mmatthews@magicvalley.com‌

URTAUGH — The Murtaugh sugar beet receiving station sat dark and empty in the early hours of Oct. 6. | Amalgamated Sugar Co.’s beet dump was scheduled to open at 8 a.m. so grower Ron Hepworth could bring in the first of his harvest. The crop was ready, but his scalper, or beet topper, needed unexpected repair before he could start digging beets. | No matter how well harvest is planned, adverse weather, breakdowns and other unforeseen factors can get in the way. But the harvest that brings in more than $300 million to the Idaho economy must go on. | The Times-News’ “Sugar Bowl” series documents a year in the sugar beet cycle, and this third installment follows Ron’s family through the harvest, from the fields to the beet dump. | For the 47-year old Murtaugh farmer and hundreds of others in south-central Idaho, beet harvest is the climax after months of working the fields and watching the weather, the annual payoff for the longest growing season among southern Idaho commodities.

The harvest begins‌

Amalgamated Sugar Co. orchestrates the flow of beets into its Paul, Twin Falls and Nampa factories, as well as its 74 receiving stations where beets are piled and stored until the factories are ready for them. Ron’s were the only beets choreographed to arrive at the Murtaugh beet dump Oct. 6, and its 8 a.m. schedule was just for him.

With the scalper repaired, Ron started digging beets that morning in the last field he planted — near his house on the south side of Murtaugh Lake.

“That field hasn’t been irrigated since Sept. 1,” he said. “It’s always good to leave one field dry in case we get weather.”

Mud in the field can hamper or significantly delay harvest.

Here the harvest players know their roles well.

Ron runs the beet digger, a machine pulled behind a tractor that pops beets out of the soil and onto a conveyor that shakes dirt and debris from the crop. The conveyor lifts the beets about 11 feet high and drops them into a harvest truck strategically placed beside the digger as it runs through the field.

Ron’s father, 81-year-old Ray Hepworth of Twin Falls, runs a six-row scalper removing the leaves from the beet plants just ahead of the beet digger.

Please see HARVEST, Page B3

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

Today’s story is the third installment in a special project by reporter Mychel Matthews, following a full year in the sugar beet production and processing cycle.

Throughout the year, you’ll meet the people who irrigate the crop, haul the harvest, operate loaders or factory equipment and market the bags of finished White Satin sugar. The reporting also examines many of the political, health and economic issues connected with the sugar industry.

Missed the first two installments on May 22 and Sept. 4? Find them on Magicvalley.com by searching for “Sugar Bowl.”

And watch for the final “Sugar Bowl” installment in April in the Times-News and Magicvalley.com.

More online A gallery at Magicvalley.com showcases more photos from the “Sugar Bowl” project.

PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌

Ron Hepworth talks about threshing dry beans Sept. 29 at his Murtaugh farm. It’s a diversified farm, but the stability of sugar beet income is a key reason the Hepworths can live a lifestyle tied to the land instead of taking second jobs in town.

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MORE INSIDE: Sugar content, crop dirt alter beet growers’ payments, B2 | Sugar industry spends big on politics, boosting image, B3 | 7 sugar beet byproducts, B4

THE BIG STORY

B2 | Sunday, November 13, 2016

Times-News

Sugar content, crop dirt alter beet growers’ payments MYCHEL MATTHEWS

mmatthews@magicvalley.com‌

‌TWIN FALLS — Not all sugar beet crops are created equal.

Some growers’ sugar beets have a higher sugar content than others. Some crops come in with a lot of dirt; others come in clean. Some have more impurities — unmetabolized nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphate and zinc — than others, and removing dirt and impurities increases production costs.

With so many variables at play, how does Amalgamated Sugar Co. place a value on various sugar beet crops as they are delivered to the company’s three factories?

“There was always a dispute between sugar companies and growers,” said Duane Grant, chairman of Snake River Sugar Co., the grower-owned cooperative that owns Amalgamated and the White Satin Sugar brand.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture stepped in and created a sophisticated formula that accurately calculates the amount of sugar per ton of beets and varying sugar content.”

Amalgamated Sugar negotiated with growers an altered formula to account for specific elements of the Idaho crop. Growers are paid not by sugar content of the beets, but by the amount of sugar actually extracted from their beets,

minus the costs of operating Amalgamated’s three factories.

To estimate the value of the crop, Amalgamated looks at various factors in the samples pulled from each truckload of beets it receives. As soon as sugar is processed and stored and sale contracts begin, Amalgamated takes out loans against the value of the crop. It then advances 50 percent of the expected value of beets to growers within 60 days of the end of harvest, based on what the market is expected to bring that year.

The entire cycle from sowing the seed to processing the sugar to the final payment takes about 19 months. Payments are staggered so growers receive five or six payments starting in October or November, with a final payment the following October.

By the end of each January, growers can expect to receive 90 percent of their yearly payment.

Growers received their last payment for the 2015 crop late last month. The average price paid to growers cooperative-wide varies year to year based on factors such as market, crop quality and quantity.

“In general, growers are expected to have been paid about $45 per ton for crop-year 2015 sugar beets when the final pay-

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

A harvest truck delivers its contents to an Amalgamated Sugar receiving station Oct. 20 near Murtaugh.

Beet payment formula Amalgamated Sugar Co.’s beet payment formula was developed in 1967 in response to a U.S. Department of Agriculture inquiry of what constituted a fair price to growers for their sugar under the Sugar Act of 1948, said grower Duane Grant, chairman of Snake River Sugar Co. It’s an intimidating formula: [(20.81X-74.76) x NR/100+.80] x 63.62235/100 That’s ERS x Revenues x Grower Share, where “ERS” stands for “estimated recoverable sugar” — the amount of sugar per ton that can extracted from the beets.

X equals sugar content, and NR equals adjusted net receipts (sales revenue less sales expense less beet payment reduction).

“Since, as a cooperative, the owners of the factory and the owners of the beet crop are essentially the same, the beet payment to the growers has been reduced annually through a ‘beet payment reduction’ equal to the amount required to cover costs of operating the factories,” Grant said. “The beet payment reduction varies each year depending on the size of the crop, and the cost to process as compared to the total value generated by the crop.” ment is made near the end of this for the 2016 crop is in the $39.50/ the previous five crop years: 2014, month,” Grant wrote in October. ton range.” $45.23; 2013, $40.02; 2012, $52; “Projected price at this early stage Average payments per ton in 2011, $65.44; and 2010, $57.32.

Amalgamated converts 2 coal factories to natural gas MYCHEL MATTHEWS

mmatthews@magicvalley.com‌

PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌

Ray Hepworth, 81, talks about his career in farming Oct. 6 at his son’s home in Murtaugh.

“I haven’t missed a year of sugar beets since I was 16. ... If the beets are left out in the open air too long, they will get too hot to put in the beet pile. We don’t want any spoilage in the pile.”

Ray Hepworth

ABOVE: Murtaugh farmer Ray Hepworth scalps sugar beets Oct. 14 during harvest. RIGHT: Dirt shakes off of sugar beets as they ride a conveyor belt up to be dumped into a truck Oct. 14 near Murtaugh. The amount of dirt in a crop affects the price the grower receives.

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

Reporter Mychel Matthews, right, has written about agriculture since 1992. She says no other crop in the Magic Valley has benefited from modern science as much as the sugar beet crop has.

‌TWIN FALLS — A Sept. 21 CNN news report exposed that 90 percent of the drinking water sampled across the U.S. contains chromium-6, the so-called “Erin Brockovich chemical” made famous by Hollywood’s depiction of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s contamination of the Hinkley, Calif., water supply.

Chromium-6, a carcinogenic chemical, is rare in nature but is produced by industrial processes. The most significant source of the chemical is coal ash from the nation’s coal-burning power plants. But another source of chromium-6 is the ash produced by burning coal to heat water in processing sugar beets.

Amalgamated Sugar Co. last year converted its Paul and Nampa plants from burning coal to burning natural gas. The Twin Falls plant uses both natural gas and coal.

“Through technological advances, Amalgamated Sugar has improved and continues to improve the overall energy efficiency of its operations,” said John McCreedy, the sugar company’s CEO. “Facilities have also increased the use of cleaner fuels. As a result, our greenhouse gas emissions have decreased significantly.”

Amalgamated’s factories now use 29 percent less fossil fuel energy than 20 years ago and produce 49 percent less greenhouse gasses and 75 percent less emissions, McCreedy said.

After converting the Paul plant to natural gas, Amalgamated removed the ash pond and filled in the clay-lined lagoon, said Michael Brown, drinking water and engineering manager at the Department of Environmental Quality in Twin Falls.

Amalgamated’s Twin Falls plant is currently renewing its “reuse” permit which allows it to recycle its treated wastewater for irrigation, said J.J. Fenton, reuse coordinator with the DEQ in Twin Falls. The department inspects the plant annually and rewrites permits every five years.

Some industrial plants’ reuse permits require testing for total chromium, but Amalgamated’s permit does not, Fenton said. In the future — if the need arises — the department could require chromium monitoring.

Amalgamated’s remaining ash pile is addressed in its solids management plan.

Both the Nampa and Paul plants last used coal in March 2015, Amalgamated spokeswoman Jessica McAnally said.

The company is working to remove the coal-firing equipment as well as the ash pile at the Nampa plant.

“Preserving the environment, being good neighbors and dedicated stewards of the land is of highest importance to our company and our grower-members,” McCreedy said, adding that Amalgamated is proud of its environmental improvements on the farm and in the factory and committed to regulatory compliance.

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THE BIG STORY

Times-News

Sunday, November 13, 2016 | B3

Sugar industry spends big on politics, boosting image MYCHEL MATTHEWS

mmatthews@magicvalley.com‌

‌Though smaller than most agricultural industries, the sugar industry is a powerful political force.

The $2.5 billion U.S. sugar crop — including beet and cane sugar — is a drop in the bucket compared with the nation’s nearly $190 billion all-crop total for 2015. Food grains and feed crops together bring in some $23 billion per year. Grapes and almonds bring in about $5.5 billion each, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics.

Yet the sugar industry contributes more than any other commodity to shape government policy. The top contributor is American Crystal Sugar, whose political action committee contributed $2 million to federal candidates in the 2012 election, the Center for Responsive Politics reports.

The sugar industry has contributed nearly $42 million since 1990, more than any other agricultural industry, with 58 percent of the donations going to Democrats and 42 percent to Republicans. It’s the only agribusiness industry “that has consistently supported Democrats during the past two decades,” the center writes.

The sugar industry looks at congressional voting records before deciding whose campaigns to contribute to, said Mark Duffin, executive director of Idaho Sugarbeet Growers Association in Boise. The industry’s PACs give to candidates who appear “friendly” toward sugar.

Nearly half of that $42 million

PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌

Ray Hepworth walks away from his tractor Oct. 6 at his son’s home in Murtaugh. The U.S. sugar industry tries to get public opinion focused on farm families rather than on criticisms of sugar. was spent between 2007 and 2014.

That may be because of what Duffin calls modern public perception challenges to the sugar industry: The pure-energy sweetener is associated with addiction, obesity, tooth decay, diabetes, genetic engineering and allegations of price control.

“We have some challenges there,” Duffin said.

Many of the challenges are created by misleading claims from

sugar critics, Duffin said. The sugar industry counters by funding scientific studies to dispel the claims and shape public opinion and by promoting educational programs that encourage good nutrition.

For Snake River Sugar Co. and Amalgamated Sugar Co., that means supporting the Idaho Sugarbeet Growers Association to lobby at the state level and the American Sugarbeet Growers As-

sociation (ASGA) at the federal level.

At the state level, the sugar industry supports general agricultural issues such as transportation, Duffin said. It fights the industry’s negative image by funding scientific studies on sugar and nutrition. At the federal level, the sugar industry lobbies to influence the Farm Bill and trade agreements such as the Central American Free Trade Agreement,

the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

A primary goal of the industry’s lobbying effort is preserving U.S. price supports.

The World Trade Organization has determined sugar to be an essential foodstuff — too important to rely on imports — and urges members to control their own supply by producing only what they consume. Adhering to those rules, the USDA’s sugar program sets U.S. sugar production at 80 percent of the nation’s consumption, ensuring a stable and sustainable domestic sugar industry but leaving import doors open in case of crop catastrophe.

The industry’s perception battle is a constant one.

Six years ago, ASGA Executive Vice President Luther Markwart outlined the association’s priorities for 2011.

“We need to continue to put the ‘grower face’ on our issues — and to constantly tell our story,” Markwart said. “This is not a sprint that we do in the year the Farm Bill is actually under consideration. This is a marathon that we have to work at all the time.”

The grower face Markwart speaks of is the antithesis of corporate farming: individual families committed to sugar production. The industry tries to get public opinion focused on those families’ livelihoods rather than on sugar’s ills.

The ISGA is constantly “getting our side of the story out,” Duffin said. “We also try to keep all the growers on the same page” through education and information.

DREW NASH PHOTOS, TIMES-NEWS‌

A harvest truck leaves a Murtaugh sugar beet field to dump its contents Oct. 20.

Harvest From B1

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“I haven’t missed a year of sugar beets since I was 16,” Ray said.

Ray and his wife, Juanita, raised a family of five on the family farm; Ron is their youngest. Ray retired and sold his ground in 2002 but still assists Ron during harvest.

Ray watched Ron and Ron’s son, Daniel, remove the outside wheels from the rear axle of the tractor that pulls the narrow scalper. Each tire rolled under its own weight, then flopped on its side with a “whump.”

“The duals are too wide to make a sharp turn with this scalper,” Ray said. “We used to use a 12-row scalper, but the digger couldn’t keep up.”

Had the weather cooled, Ron might have returned to the wider scalper, which saves fuel because it takes only half the passes to get through a field. But as long as daytime temperatures stayed above 50 degrees, the six-row scalper would remain behind the tractor.

“If the beets are left out in the open air too long, they will get too hot to put in the beet pile,” Ray said. “We don’t want any spoilage in the pile.”

That morning, the Hepworth crew delivered the first truckloads of the crop to the beet dump

The morning started with the sound of shotguns hammering away at geese on Murtaugh Lake.

The air was crisp, and the birds’ honking carried for miles. Murtaugh hadn’t seen a killing frost yet, but windshields had to be scraped for several mornings in a row.

The Hepworth crew had finished the field south of the lake and moved to a field north of U.S. 30, just a mile from the beet dump.

The weather report threatened rain — a lot of rain — and Ron was determined to get as many beets out of the ground and piled at the receiving station as he could before the fields became too “greasy” to work.

Ron’s father-in-law, Duane Turner, had just delivered a busload of students to Murtaugh’s school and now jumped into a harvest truck with a reporter in tow.

Ron, in the digger, waited for the scalper to open the field, but that morning the man running the scalper wasn’t his father. The sunup-to-sundown hours had taken a toll on the old man, and for the Duane Turner holds his line as he drives a harvest truck, while Ron Hepworth digs up sugar beets and deposits first time Ray found he couldn’t them in the back of Turner’s truck Oct. 20 near Murtaugh. keep up. He was replaced by Ron’s hired hand Eusevio Martinez. on U.S. 30, southwest of town.

The Murtaugh beet dump, said A family effort‌ Eusevio’s son Apolinar was Nearly a thousand loads of Ron’s Amalgamated Sugar fieldman The eastern sky was bright red driving another harvest truck, crop would follow, plus loads from Kendall Henderson, will hold Oct. 20 just before the sun rose about a half-dozen other growers. 80,000 tons by the end of harvest. over Mount Harrison.

Please see HARVEST, Page B4

B4 | Sunday, November 13, 2016

THE BIG STORY

Times-News

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

Farmer Ron Hepworth harvests sugar beets Oct. 14 near Murtaugh.

7 SUGAR BEET BYPRODUCTS

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WIN FALLS — While Amalgamated Sugar Co.’s processing plants are dedicated primarily to extracting sugar from the beet crop, the company also creates byproducts to be sold as livestock feed. About 10 percent of the company’s receipts come from byproducts.

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BEET TOPS‌

Leafy tops are whipped off mature sugar beet plants in the field before roots are dug. After harvest, the tops are turned under to add organic matter to the soil; sometimes growers instead turn cattle into the field after harvest to feed on the leaves.

PRESSED PULP‌

The average root of a sugar beet plant contains about 17 percent sugar. The rest of the root is water and pulp, which is left after the bulk of the sugar is extracted at the factory. The wet pulp is pressed to extract whatever sugar is left and to remove excess water. The remaining byproduct, called pressed pulp, is sold to livestock producers and dairymen as a source of digestible fiber and nutrients. Amalgamated Sugar produces about 450,000 tons of pressed pulp each year.

Like any moist fodder, pressed pulp can mold, so it must be fed quickly or preserved. In some countries, pressed pulp is stored in a pit or silo and fermented, preserving it for fodder.

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DRIED PULP‌

Taken one step further, pressed pulp can be squeezed a second time, then dried to about 10 percent moisture content. Dried pulp is a more stable product but more expensive to produce. Amalgamated Sugar makes about 230,000 tons of dried pulp annually in shredded or pelletized form.

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TAILINGS‌

Leafy tops and chunks of sugar beet separated at the front end of the factory are also sold as fodder. Amalgamated Sugar produces about 190,000 tons of tailings annually.

BEET MOLASSES‌

Sugar crystals are extracted from a “liquor” in the refining process, leaving a thick syrup called beet molasses. Molasses contains amino acids and minerals, making it ideal for dairy cattle. The sugar company produces about 35,000 tons of molasses each year.

CONCENTRATED SEPARATOR BYPRODUCT‌

CSB is a secondary molasses product after even more sugar is removed.

Amalgamated Sugar annually produces about 110,000 tons of CSB as a supplement to mix with dry animal feed such as oats.

BETAINE‌

The sugar company also recovers betaine (trimethylglycine) from beet molasses using proprietary methods. Betaine, used as a feed supplement for poultry, swine and fish, is available in liquid or crystalline form and is sold domestically and internationally. Amalgamated Sugar produces about 10,000 tons of liquid betaine and 5,000 tons of crystalline betaine annually.

Mychel Matthews

Harvest From B3

and so were Daniel and Brandon Clark, the father of Ron’s oldest granddaughter.

Frost had settled on the sugar beet leaves, but the roots were OK to harvest, Duane said. The leaf canopy insulates the roots from the cold like a blanket.

Duane has driven a beet harvest truck for 10 years and owns 25 of the 327 beet shares his son-in-law grows for the Snake River Sugar Co. cooperative.

“I bought the shares when Ronnie was farming my ground and he was still working with his dad,” said Duane, a retired route salesman for Wonder Bread.

“We paid $400 per share when the co-op started,” he said. “I’ve seen shares go as high as $1,000.”

Rain had muddied the fields PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌ a few days before, but the crew Murtaugh farmer Ron Hepworth works on his combine Sept. 29. decided it was safe to dig.

“It’s slow going,” Duane said as he pulled alongside the dig“It’s the only way I get to see my husband during harvest. Ron ger in his harvest truck. and I do most everything together. He is truly my best friend.”

It took only a few minutes to fill the truck, then the heavily Shala Hepworth, wife of Ron Hepworth laden 10-wheeler drove back over the harvested rows to exit the field and onto 4550 East, dropping wet clods of soil on the pavement.

Landowner Jeff Watts, who leases land to Ron, sat on a small tractor with a scraper waiting to clear the road of mud.

At the beet dump, Duane pulled onto the scales to weigh his load, then he sat a few minutes as Amalgamated Sugar employees moved the beet piler away from one of two growing piles of beets. More growers were bringing in beets, keeping DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌ PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌ the two pilers busy.

Duane Turner drives a school bus Oct. 14 in Murtaugh.

Murtaugh farmer Ron Hepworth, left, and son Daniel Duane maneuvered his truck Between bus runs, he drives a sugar beet harvest truck.

Hepworth remove a tire from their tractor Oct. 6. onto a ramp and raised its dump

bed. Beets rolled onto the piler, and sugar factory employees took samples before the Hepworth beets were piled with other beets. Once again Duane pulled onto the scale to get his empty — or tare — weight.

The round trip through the field, to the beet dump and back again took about a half-hour.

He’d make 10 trips to the beet dump that day before trading his truck for a school bus to deliver students to their homes after school.

Ron’s wife, Shala, pulled in next to the field and parked her van across the road. She carried their granddaughter Adelaide into the field and jumped into the tractor with Ron. “It’s the only way I get to see my husband during harvest,” Shala said. “Ron and I do most everything together. He is truly my best friend.”

A few days later, the Hepworth harvest lost another worker. Eusevio went to Mexico for his brother’s funeral, so Ray returned to work the final days of harvest on the scalper.

The crew finished digging the last of 327 acres on Oct. 27.

Ron’s crop was now mingled with other growers’ beets at the Murtaugh receiving station, awaiting their last trip, a 20-mile journey to the Twin Falls sugar factory. For the Hepworths, a harvest party was in order — a Thanksgiving-style gathering of everyone involved in the family’s crop.

And while the Hepworths chisel plow the empty sugar beet fields to prepare them for next year’s bean and barley crops, and plow the fields that will go into beets, Amalgamated’s three factories are slicing through the piles of beets. It’s the start of a long process that puts a tidy bag of white granules on the grocer’s shelf.

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