American Crystal Sugar Company is an iconic brand, producing crystal sugar as well as powdered and liquid varieties for retail and food and beverage manufacturers across the United States.
The sugar cooperative operates five plants in Minnesota and North Dakota, processing sugar beets grown by its 2,600 members who farm across 400,000 acres. Once harvested, the beets are delivered to a receiving station, then moved to one of its processing plants, where 3 billion pounds of sugar are produced each year.
Operating at that scale, combined with its evolution as a farmer-owned cooperative, has made American Crystal Sugar a mainstay across the Red River Valley.
“Our roots go back more than a century, but we became a co-op 52 years ago when local growers saw long-term potential in sugar beets and wanted more control over their future,” said Tom Astrup, president and chief executive officer of American Crystal Sugar. “And today, we remain committed to working alongside our members to invest in our future.”
To support future growth and drive efficiency on behalf of its members, the coop is expanding its facility in Drayton, North Dakota.
“We knew we needed to make some upgrades to increase our capacity while improving our efficiency and environmental impact,” said Astrup. “Our Drayton factory is our largest, and we have a lot of producers in that region, so the upgrades have also reduced trucking costs.”
They understand our business — including sugar markets and policy, which can be extremely complicated. We also appreciate their collaboration at the community level.
To help finance the expansion, American Crystal Sugar worked with its longtime partner CoBank, which arranged $800 million in credit facilities, including a revolver for general corporate purposes and term debt to finance several projects. The upgrades have increased production at Drayton by over 40% with plans to increase that in the next five years.
“CoBank has been a great partner. They understand our business — including sugar markets and policy, which can be extremely complicated. We also appreciate their collaboration at the community level,” Astrup said.
American Crystal Sugar participates in CoBank’s Sharing Success program, a $6 million fund that matches up to $15,000 in donations made by its customers to organizations within their community. Individually, American Crystal Sugar gives back 5 cents for every ton of beets it harvests through its Community Roots program — donating approximately $600,000 a year to education, health care and emergency services.
“CoBank has a shared understanding of the cooperative model and shares our same values. I often compare being CEO of a cooperative to being the coach of a team … building up the organization to work together towards one common goal: to be the best in the world at what we do. CoBank has that same goal and is a great teammate,” Astrup said.