October 17, 2007

Tour limited to 40 people! Registration accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis, so register early by using the Extras link on the online registration page!!

Participants will depart from the main lobby of the Doubletree Hotel Riverside and be transported by bus, which will leave promptly at 8:00 A.M. and return by noon.  The cost for the transportation is $25 per person. The tour covers the key production processes at Amalgamated’s Nampa, Idaho facility, the air emissions sources, pollution control devices, and the new state-of-the art $17 million pulp steam dryer. The new steam dryer has recently replaced three coal-fired pulp dryers and significantly reduces emissions from the facility, which processes 12,000 tons of beets per day.

History

With the origin of some of the companies that “amalgamated” together as far back as 1898, the roots of the present day Amalgamated Sugar Company LLC run deep. Although none of the original factory locations are still in operation today, Amalgamated has grown into one of the premier beet sugar companies in the United States, purchasing approximately 6,000,000 tons of sugar beets each year, from which over 1.7 billion pounds of sugar are produced, accounting for about 10% of the sugar production in the United States.

Currently, Amalgamated owns and operates three modern high capacity sugar factories located in Rupert (established 1917), Twin Falls (established 1916), and Nampa, Idaho (established 1942).  These factories have the combined capacity to process over 37,000 tons of sugar beets each day, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from mid-September until late February or early March.

Controlled since 1997 by Snake River Sugar Company, a grower-owned cooperative with over 1,200 members, Amalgamated receives sugar beets from approximately 200,000 acres at locations in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.  Deliveries begin in September and continue until mid-November.  Sugar beets are stockpiled at the receiving stations until needed at the factories, at which time they are transported by either truck or rail to the factory for processing.  After processing, the Company’s famous “White Satin Sugar” is either stored in huge silos at the factories or moved to various storage and distribution points located across the United States to await delivery to customers. In addition to sugar, various byproducts from the sugar beets are sold by the company, the most economically important being beet pulp, which is used as cattle feed, and betaine which is used as a nutritional animal feed supplement.

Amalgamated is proud of its 100-year heritage producing “Home Grown Sugar” in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington and has made many positive contributions to the communities in which its employees and growers live and work.