By Belinda Crowson

Beet farming: uncovering the sugar-coated history.

Many southern Alberta families have a sugar beet story. The sugar beet industry has significantly impacted the people, economy and community development. From the beginning, sugar beets were challenging to grow and very labour intensive, but provided a very high dividend per acre. To this day, this industry remains strong in southern Alberta more than 100 years after it began.

About the author: Belinda Crowson is an enthusiastic history professional and the local authority for all things historic. She was born and raised in southern Alberta and has lived in Lethbridge for several decades. From 2000–2017, she was the Museum Educator at the Galt Museum Archives, teaching history to southern Alberta students. Belinda is currently the president of the Lethbridge Historical Society (LHS) and past president of the Historical Society of Alberta.