William Rutledge

Michigan Sugar Company was founded in 1906 when six smaller sugar companies merged their operations. In 2002, Michigan Sugar Company became a grower-owned cooperative and in 2004, we merged with Monitor Sugar Company to form the company that exists today. Michigan Sugar Company is headquartered in Bay City and we have sugarbeet processing facilities in Bay City, Caro, Croswell and Sebewaing, Michigan. Our nearly 900 grower-owners plant and harvest around 140,000 acres of sugarbeets each year in 17 to 20 Michigan counties, as well as Ontario, Canada. Those beets are sliced at our factories and turned into about 1.3 billion pounds of sugar annually. Our sugar is sold to industrial, commercial, and retail customers under the Pioneer Sugar brand. We also package sugar for more than 20 private labels, including for customers like Walmart, Meijer, and Kroger. Michigan Sugar Company has 1,000 year-round employees and an additional 1,100 seasonal workers. We are the No. 1 employer in Huron County, the No. 2 employer in Bay and Sanilac counties and the No. 3 employer in Tuscola County. Our annual payroll is about $90 million and our annual local economic impact is about $700 million. Michigan Sugar Company is the third largest of nine sugarbeet processing companies in the United States and Michigan is one of 10 states where sugarbeets are grown in the country.