Wyoming sugar industry discussed

During the Wyoming Agricultural Bankers Conference, held May 13-14 in Dubois, Wyoming Sugar Company President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mike Greear gave a presentation on the history and economic impact of Wyoming’s sugar industry.

Greear included background on the Wyoming Sugar Company and an overview of the U.S. sugar program, as well as some current challenges and opportunities facing the sugar industry.

Wyoming Sugar Company

Sugar production has been a key industry in the Big Horn Basin since the early 1900s. By 1909, Greear explained local growers were beginning to grow and harvest sugarbeets in the Worland area and ship them by railroad to Billings, Mont. to be processed.   

In 1917, the Wyoming Sugar Company of Ogden, Utah completed construction of the first sugarbeet factory in Worland. Construction took just one year, according to Greear, and cost a total of $1 million. 

The factory changed hands throughout the decades, acquired first by Holly Sugar Corporation in 1925 and then by Imperial Sugar in 1988 before a coalition of local growers, business owners, employees and community members banded together to form the Wyoming Sugar Company and purchase the factory from Imperial in 2002. 

By 2009, the company transitioned to completely grower owned. Greear took over as CEO in 2017, and by 2018, the Wyoming Sugar Company transitioned from a limited liability company to a grower-owned cooperative model.

Also in 2018, Wyoming Sugar Company joined the United Sugars Corporation to enhance their market reach and distribution capabilities.

Today, the Wyoming Sugar Company is one of seven sugarbeet cooperatives in the U.S., and growers operate under a “right and obligation” model to ensure adequate throughput, according to Greear.

“What this means is to own shares in a sugarbeet company, members have the right to grow products and have them processed, as well as the obligation to grow,” Greear explained. “It makes sure we always have throughput to the factory.”

“Over the last 10 years, there’s been a lot of hard work from our growers, our board and the team we put together,” Greear added. “It’s been everything – the partnerships, the small town and the growers. It’s an example of Wyoming people coming together to make something happen. Our company has come a long way.”

Economy and future

Sugar production remains a vital component of the Big Horn Basin’s local economy. Greear credits the success of the Wyoming Sugar Company to the growers.

“Our growers are sugarbeet growers first,” Greear says, emphasizing although many also raise other crops and cattle, their main priority is growing sugarbeets.

Additionally, Greear notes many affiliated growers are young or come from multi-generational operations with strong succession plans in place, creating a unique situation which he believes sets the industry and the Wyoming Sugar Company up for continued success.

Greear also highlighted the innovative spirit of Wyoming Sugar Company, emphasizing it was the first to implement Roundup Ready sugarbeets when they became available in 2008 and noting the company prioritizes simple, effective technology to keep operations running smoothly.

“In our region, year after year, we’re in the top two for either the highest sugar content or the highest yield,” Greear added. “It’s a great area to grow sugarbeets, which really helps.”

In 2025, Greear noted the Wyoming Sugar Company saw near-record sugar production of 489,000 tons and annually, the company supports upwards of 300 local jobs. 

Challenges

and opportunities

Greear also gave an overview of the U.S. Sugar Program, a federal commodity support system for sugar producers administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as some challenges and opportunities facing domestic sugar producers.

“The U.S. Sugar Program is over 30 years old, and it was designed with this concept – if we want to raise sugar in the U.S. and have it available in the U.S., we have to protect our domestic producers from the treasuries of foreign countries,” Greear explained. 

He also explained the program mandates 85 percent of sugar purchases be made from domestic producers and places limits on sugar imports from foreign countries, particularly Mexico and Brazil.

While the program serves as a safeguard for sugar producers, it leads to higher prices for consumers, and Greear admitted oversaturation caused dramatic drops in the market in 2025.

Today, Greear says the sugar surplus has been remedied and markets are beginning to come back up, but other challenges still remain.

Impending drought conditions and pest problems pose potential threats to the growing season, and anti-sugar narratives stemming from proponents of the Make America Healthy Again movement have led to decreased demand in some areas.

The rising popularity and accessibility of appetite-suppressing GLP-1 medications are also resulting in decreased demand for sugar, Greear admitted.

Despite these challenges, Greear remains optimistic and emphasized the resilience of the grower community and upward trends in sugarbeet sales per hundredweight.

“My mantra is to just take it one week, one month and one year at a time, keep pushing through and letting growers make the right business decisions,” Greear concluded.

Grace Skavdahl is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.