For over a hundred years, the beet sugar industry was one of the most important contributors to Utah's economy. Numerous small farmers grew and harvested the beet as a cash crop, while factories dotted Utah's landscape, creating jobs for food scientists, chemists, and manual laborers. Beets were pervasive enough in Utah that Jordan High School even uses “Beetdigger” as its mascot. Beets have had a profound influence on the state.
A major reason why the industry became so entrenched in Utah is because of the influence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church was a stockholder in two beet sugar corporations—the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company and the Amalgamated Sugar Company—and some general authorities of the church served on their boards. For a time, the president of the church was also the president of the sugar companies. Religion and sugar were inextricably entwined. Yet the presence of the...
