The Sugar Beet Industry

P19760206011-GP Sugar Beets

Another way in which the Lethbridge region escaped the Depression was by not growing only one type of crop. An important part of this was the introduction of sugar beet farming. A sugar beet is a large grey vegetable which looks like a beet. Sugar beets are processed and refined to make many different types of sugar products. The importance of the sugar beet industry to southern Alberta can be seen by the increase in beet production during the 1930's. At the beginning of the decade, there were 4839 hectares of sugar beets in the Lethbridge area, but by 1939, there were 8669 hectares of sugar beets in southern Alberta. The sugar beet industry has been very important in the history of the Lethbridge area. Weed control and the harvesting of sugar beets needed the work of many people, which was supplied, during World War II, by prisoners from the 133 POW camp and Japanese-Canadian evacuees. Many immigrants found there first jobs in the sugar beet industry. The refining of sugar beets also created many jobs in factories around Lethbridge.