The history of Manitoba-made sugar and how the sugar beet industry could be revived in the province
CTV
As the Rogers Sugar strike drags on with no end in sight, some bakers are looking for sugar on shelves, while others are looking to Manitoba’s manufacturing history for answers.
As the Rogers Sugar strike drags on with no end in sight, some bakers are looking for sugar on shelves, while others are looking to Manitoba’s manufacturing history for answers.
Brian Fehr, the general manager of Bracor Environmental, said his company would love to see Manitoba farmers grow sugar beets again, have them refined in the province and help stock shelves.
"From a farming aspect, it gives a little bit more diversification for some farmers. So it gives you an extra crop to plant if you need to. And then having the refinery here supplying sugar in Canada,” said Fehr.
And it wouldn’t be the first time sugar was a going concern in Manitoba.
The Manitoba Sugar Company plant opened in the Fort Garry area in 1940 and closed down in 1997.
The factory brought in locally grown sugar beets and refined them into white sugar.
Gordon Goldsborough, the head researcher with the Manitoba Historical Society, has a lot of memories from the factory – from the smell of molasses that would waft through the Winnipeg air to his uncle working at the plant in the winters after harvesting the summer crops.
