[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] sugar beet connections

[richard benert]

For what it's worth, there is a brief article on Germans from Russia as 
sugar-beet growers in the Fall, 1999, JOURNAL of the AHSGR.  It's written by 
Roger Hill, who was then the President and CEO of Holly Sugar, and was 
himself a son of a GR sugar-beet growing family.  One might contact him 
about this, I suppose.  He does not mention, as one might expect if it were 
an important factor, any sugar-beet growing in Russia, nor does he mention 
any kind of organized effort to recruit GR farmers for this industry.  But 
his statement, "Many families...arrived in Northern Colorado to work the 
sugar beets", implies some kind of foreknowledge that this was a good kind 
of farming to get into, perhaps spread only by word of mouth.  But just 
because Hill didn't mention any organized recruitment doesn't mean it didn't 
exist.

Dick Benert
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Royal Natzke" <rdnatzke at execpc.com>
To: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2004 3:39 PM
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] sugar beet connections


> Hello:
>
> I am Dorothy Natzke's husband, Royal, and I have my own question. At a 
> recent
> meeting of our Germans from Russia group we were sharing where our 
> ancestors
> came from and where they settled in North America. I was amazed at how 
> many
> times individuals mentioned that their people were employed in the sugar 
> beet
> fields in NB., CO, KS, ND. During WWII we raised sugar beets on our farm 
> in
> Brown Co, WI. I recently viewed the excellent video on sugar beets 
> produced by
> the people in Scotts Bluff, NB.
>
> My question: did the Germans from Russia/Volhynia raise sugar beets in the 
> old
> country, or did they just pick that up as entrance level employment when 
> they
> came here? I don't recall if we saw sugar beet fields when we were in 
> western
> Volhynia in '01. We did see them in western Pomerania in Kreis Greifenberg
> (Trieglaf - where my people came from).
>
> Were sugar beet companies recruiting workers through a Germans from Russia
> network that went all the way back to Europe? or just here in the US and
> Canada? or was it just by word of mouth?
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Royal
>
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