MOORHEAD, Minn. — Steve Rosenau, treasurer of American Crystal Sugar Co., in Moorhead, Minn., has added duties of operating officer of the farmer-owned co-op’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Sidney Sugars Inc., based in Sidney, Mont.
Rosenau’s duties started July 6, 2020, in an announcement from Tom Astrup, American Crystal’s chief executive officer. Rosenau takes over from Brian Ingulsrud, who is Crystal’s vice president of agriculture. Crystal spokesman Jeff Schweitzer said the change is a reshuffling of duties that happens from time to time.
In his new role, Rosenau will oversee all factory, agriculture operations and grower-related activities at the Sidney facility.
Rosenau holds a master’s in business administration from the University of Mary, a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, and a mechanical engineering degree from North Dakota State University in Fargo.
Rosenau has worked for American Crystal Sugar for 25 years. He has held positions including corporate controller, business development manager, financial analyst, factory manager, production superintendent and process engineer.
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American Crystal is owned by 2,650 shareholders in the Red River Valley. They own five factories at Moorhead, Minn.; Crookston, Minn.; and East Grand Forks, Minn., as well as Drayton and Hillsboro, in North Dakota.
The Sidney plant initially was built by Holly Sugar Co. in 1925. Crystal purchased it and two other plants 2002 when the industry changed to allow processors to divide up the domestic market in “allocations” while allowing 11% to 13% of U.S. sugar to be imported by key Caribbean countries.
About 80 growers produce for the plant. Growers raise 32,000 acres of beets a year, with an average crop recently totaling about 1 million tons, in an area ranging from near Miles City to Culbertson in Montana, to Fairview, N.D.
