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Posted on 08/24/2025 7:47:49 AM PDT by DFG
The last sugar beet factory in California is closing after almost 80 years in business.
The Spreckels Sugar Company factory in Brawley in the Imperial Valley has already begun the closure process that will soon lead to the loss of 700 local jobs.
The Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative, which owns and runs the factory, said it could no longer keep up with declining sugar prices as well as post-pandemic inflationary pressures.
The factory was the last of its kind in the state that turned the root sugar beet into sugar, and marks the latest of a series of companies to leave California.
The cooperative will now 'focus its resources' on a more profitable plant in Renville, Minnesota, the company said in a statement.
While production phases out the factory will remain open. It will close for good towards the end of this year or early 2026.
It is unlikely any other sugar beet factory will spring up to replace it, as strict federal regulations block the Imperial Valley from processing beets at any other facility, according to the LA Times.
'This was a difficult decision brought about by factors largely out of our control,' Paul Fry, chief executive of the cooperative, told the publication.
'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,' Fry explained.
The closure of the factory is a devastating blow to the Southern California region where unemployment rates are high and agriculture is the second-largest creator of jobs.
The closure will wipe out a $243 million industry in the state, Imperial County officials told local news KPBS.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
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Democrats kill everything, including jobs.
Progressives are the most odious creatures on earth. Those idiots in CA will gleefully watch businesses leave the state. Those progressives will then console themselves by saying it will just make their state cleaner, heathier and a better place to live. Next comes the budgetary shortfalls, fewer jobs, and the filth that comes from a government unable to do basic functions. And who will be to blame?
Capitalists.
“”strict federal regulations block the Imperial Valley from processing beets at any other facility, according to the LA Times.””
That seems odd....no explanation?
Oh NO!, no more subsidized sugar beet industry, what??
I used to work for a company in Anaheim that manufactured aluminum gearboxes. They had an onsite smelter. After years of harassment from the state over emissions, the parent company shut the plant down and moved all their operations to Wisconsin. About 700 people lost their jobs. This was 20 years ago.
Yup, its the unconstitutional feds again.
The Constitution does not delegate to the feds an enumerated power to meddle in free enterprise.
How long until people rise up and say, "ENOUGH!!!", and dismantle the unconstitutional acts, laws, and agencies of the federal gov't?
> The closure will wipe out a $243 million industry in the state <
No worries. The Democrats will make up the shortfall by raising taxes on all the companies that remain.
That always works.
Right?
🤔
Capitalists create wealth and happiness. Socialists steal wealth, destroy what they don’t devour and cause misery.
It does not say when the factory started.
Long term benefit. California can’t be trusted to regulate the US Food supply. Better now to get them out of the business than later.
i mean, there are a lot of places to grow sugar beets. North Dakota is the largest producer. CA is way down the list.
78 years ago. 2025-78=1947
I remember being downwind of a MN sugar beet farm back in the 70s’.
Yuck!
Was wondering if they moved to N. Dakota?
Hurray say california voters, another hole shot in our foot! Hurray.
strict federal regulations block the Imperial Valley from processing beets at any other facility
Yup, its the unconstitutional feds again.
The Constitution does not delegate to the feds an enumerated power to meddle in free enterprise.
How long until people rise up and say, “ENOUGH!!!”, and dismantle the unconstitutional acts, laws, and agencies of the federal gov’t?
Do you think maybe that part is fake news and not close to the real problem?
If CA wants to grow sugar beets, they can. Truck the beets out of state for processing.
No farmers or farm workers get hurt, but CA state coffers take a hit when industry moves out of state.
How long until CA tells the 700 workers to learn how to code?
the sugar beet industry in colorado used to be gigantic, but today, only the Fort Morgan Sugar Beet Processing Facility remains in operation ... cheap high-fructose corn syrup killed the sugar beet industry, not Democrats ...
The democrats are strangling California to death with One Party Rule
Well they’ll just raise taxes on those that are left - until they run out of industries to tax; because you know, they have to take care of their illegals.
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