Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1006706
www.SugarProducer.com 19 to Minnesota and North Dakota to check in on spring planning. Many thanks to the farmers who took a break from their hectic schedules to visit with us about the pride farming brings to them. "It's one of those things that has to be in your blood to do it," Raymond, Minn. farmer Nate Hultgren said. "Because to lay under a beet digger at 2 in the morning and scrape mud, not a lot of people would want to do it unless you were born with it." Hultgren succinctly summed up the message most sugar producers want delivered to Congress: It's essential to keep sugar policy strong and intact; "otherwise these communities that rely on sugar for jobs, for tax dollars…they're going to go away." Hultgren is right, as one community unfortunately found out the hard way. The American Sugar Alliance didn't stop in Hawaii during the tour because the state recently stopped producing sugar after more than a century in business due to poor prices and a flood of subsidized Mexican sugar. Makelle Pinsonat, a fourth- generation Louisiana sugarcane grower, said she hopes Congress learns from the past and ensures other communities don't meet the same fate. "We need more stability—a stability in price," she said. "When we went through the issue with Mexico dumping, our prices dropped tremendously. But our inputs are steadily going up, and we are still farming on old sugar prices." Hopefully the industry's new campaign—and our producers' own words—will help spread that message far and wide, and Congress will preserve a strong sugar policy for years and years to come. n Darrin Siemen, Harbor Beach, Mich. Nate Hultgren, Raymond, Minn. Charles Guidry, Erath, La. Rod Olson, Caledonia, N.D. Ronda Perry, Moore Haven, Fla. Von Medearis, Brawley, Calif. Rita Herford, Minden City, Mich. Derek Orsenigo, Belle Glade, Fla. Dan Rosenfeldt, Moorhead, Minn. Granville Williams, Bronx, N.Y. Want to view the stories of sugar growers and processors around the country in the ASA's "Faces of Sugar Policy" series? Simply scan the photos at right using the PrintFlic app on your smartphone, and the video profile will play automatically.