STATEMENT OF DONALD BERNHARDT, AGRICULTURE MANAGER, THE WESTERN SUGAR COMPANY, BILLINGS, MONTANA RELATING TO THE UNITED STATES SUGAR INDUSTRY AND THE UNITED STATES SUGAR PROGRAM. Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: My name is Donald Bernhardt, Agriculture Manager of The Western Sugar Company, Billings, Montana. The Western Sugar Company owns and operates seven beet sugar refineries in the States of Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. I want to thank you for the opportunity to appear before your Committee and especially for bringing the Hearings to the local areas where the commodities are produced and the livelihoods of so many are directly affected by agriculture and the processing of agricultural products. Your presence here today also reinforces the belief of Montanans; that Legislation which as such a significant impact on the State of Montana is written and implemented by elected officials of the United States, and not some bureaucrat in Brussels who has little or no interest in the American Agricultural Community. Due to The domestic sugar program probably has a greater impact on Montana than the other sugar producing states in America. our climate and our relatively short growing season, Montana does not have the option of a number of alternative crops that some of the other beet producing areas enjoy. In our beet producing area, Western Sugar contracts for approximately 30,000 acres of sugarbeets with 263 growers. About two-thirds of these growers rotate their beet crop with malting barley, the other major crop for the irrigating producers. The balance of our irrigated cropland goes into feed grains, corn primarily for silage, some beans, and alfalfa. However, it is the beets and malting barley which provide the stability as cash crops for the producers. This is especially significant of the beets due to their ability to sustain the ravages of nature. Sugarbeets have a significant impact in the State of Montana. Not only do we produce one of the few value added products produced in Montana; we also expend considerable dollars into the local communities where the beets are produced and here, in Billings, where the crop is processed. While In addition, we are helping reduce the trade deficit. local feeders and ranchers purchase a considerable portion of our byproducts--beet pulp pellets and molasses--we also export approximately 70% of our pulp pellets to countries such as Japan, Germany, and Ireland. Since acquiring the Billings Plant in April of 1985, we have reinvested approximately four million dollars in the plant. We also have input into the community significant dollars on an annual basis through such items as: I would also like to point out that considerable amounts of our supplies, fuel, and equipment are produced from outside the State of Montana. This sugarbeet industry has a significant impact throughout the United States, not just within the beet producing area. Although sugar is a small part of the Farm Bill, it has, as always, drawn considerable attention--mainly due to the efforts of the large, very profitable sweetener users. The 1985 Farm Bill has achieved everything it was expected to do--a program that cost the Treasury nothing, and a stable, cost effective supply of product to the American consumer. When the 1990 Farm Bill is under consideration, we ask your support of a sugar provision at or above present levels. I thank you for the opportunity to appear before your Committee, and will be happy to answer any questions you may have. |