Sidney Holly Sugar Factory
1925-2000

This year marks the celebration of a very significant date for the sugar beet industry in the Lower Yellowstone River Valley and for Holly Sugar Corporation.

Sugar beets were first grown after the completion of the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project in 1909.  These beets were loaded into rail cars and shipped to the Great Western factory in Billings, Nomtana.  In 1924, Holly Sugar began construction on a sugar beet factory in Sidney, Montana.  This factory was completed in 1925.

The first processing season started October 5, 1925.  Growers harvested 8,111 acres of sugar beets amounting to 58,592 tons.  The capacity of the original factory was 1,200 tons of beets per day.  Presently, the factory operates at 6,300 tons of beets per day and its dedicated employees have established it as one of the most productive of its kind.  Today the factory slices over a million tons of beets from 46,000 contracted sugar beet acres.

Lower Yellowstone Valley sugar beet growers are some of the most efficient in the industry.  Some of the highest sugar percentages ever recorded have been harvested here.  Early harvest starts in September.  Regular harvest begins the first of October and usually ends the latter part of the month.  During campaign, the factory operates 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.  The factory employs over 100 year-round employees and 290 campaign workers.  Total expenditures by this operation exceed $78,000,000 per year with most of this going directly into the local economy.

Holly Sugar Corporation was formed in 1905.  The corporation became a subsidiary of Imperial Sugar in 1988.  Imperial Sugar Company is the largest domestic refiner and processor of refined sugar in the United States.  The company consists of four can refineries, nine sugar beet factories and over thirty food service, packaging, ingredient, warehouse, distribution, and terminal facilities.