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Charlie Bauer is a farmer, no two ways about it. As a
kid, the fourth-generation Michigan sugarbeet grower fully
embraced life on the farm, and he never stopped. Almost the
moment he graduated from high school in 1972, Bauer re-
turned to the family farm and went to work trying to improve
the operation.
Laracha Farms got its start in 1977 when Ruben and
Marian Bauer's boys (the three sons of Bauer & Sons Farms)
formed their own business to continue acquiring land for the
farming operation. The name Laracha is derived from the
names of those brothers: Larry, Randy and Charlie. Since
then, the operation has expanded into one of the bigger farms
in Michigan. Today, Laracha Farms annually grows about
2,500 acres of sugarbeets, along with pickling cucumbers,
soybeans, dry beans and corn. It is spread across five counties,
growing crops in soil that Bauer describes as "everything from
the heaviest of the heavy to the lightest of the light."
A lot of American farms have similar stories of growth, but
Change
for the
Grower of the Year
Michigan Sugar's Laracha Farms
Charlie Bauer harvests Laracha Farms' 2021
sugarbeet crop near Reese, Michigan.
By Tyrell Marchant
Photos Courtesy Michigan Sugar Co.
