New York State sugar beet industry oral history project, 1965-1969.

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New York State sugar beet industry oral history project, 1965-1969.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/63934392

These tapes and transcripts of oral history interviews with 33 people cover the planning, establishment, operation, and collapse of a sugar beet industry in an 18 county area of New York State between 1960 and 1970. Subjects include: efforts by the Redevelopment Area Organization (RA0) of Cayuga County to obtain a USDA acreage allotment; the formation and administration of the Finger Lakes Sugar Beet Growers Association; the selection of PepsiCo as the refiner; contributions of the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University, including the establishment of test plots, the gathering of economic data, and the determination of cultural practices; sources of both reliable and unreliable information on sugar beet production; relationships between growers, the Growers Association, the New York State College of Agriculture, the RAO, Empire State Sugar Company (the refinery, a subsidiary of PepsiCo), and PepsiCo; growers' experiences with sugar beets, including their adoption of cultural practices and selection and use of machinery; contract negotiations between growers and processor; PepsiCo's management of public relations; and the reasons why PepsiCo transferred the refinery to Maine Sugar Industries. Those interviewed are: Genoa, New York businessman Henry Stack (originator of the project), Paul W. Lattimore and Michael L. Peduto (members, Cayuga County RAO), C. Delmar Kearl, Joseph F. Metz, Thomas Scott, Nyle C. Brady, and W. Keith Kennedy (New York State College of Agriculture professors or administrators), Charles Miller, Dale Thompson, Keith Rowan, and Nathan R. Herendeen (employees, Empire Sugar or PepsiCo), Dewey Stewart (head of sugar beet investigations at the USDA), Beverly Easton (Administrator, Canada & Dominion Sugar Company), James Smith and Howard Bateman (county extension agents), D. Leo Hayes (secretary, Finger Lakes Sugar Beet Growers Association), and Douglas Church, John Debrucque, Charles Dickens, Howard Giles, Ralph Hemminger, George Humphreys, Floyd Klipple, Harold Kludt, Anthony J. Recckio, Paul and William Rockefeller, Horace C. Reynolds, Harvey H. Smith, John Sodoma, Benjamin Swayze, and Frank Turek (farmers, some were also directors of the Finger Lakes Sugar Beet Growers Association).

30 tape recordings and 1571 p. of transcript.

Cornell University Library

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7904720

Cornell University Library

Related Entities

There are 6 Entities related to this resource.

Cornell University. Cooperative Extension

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Finger Lakes Sugar Beet Growers Association.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r28903 (corporateBody)

Empire State Sugar Company.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6481kc5 (corporateBody)

PepsiCo, inc.

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New York State College of Agriculture.

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The first Farmers' Week at the New York State College of Agriculture was held in 1908. Originally held in the month of February, the program included lectures, demonstrations, competitions and contests, roundtable discussions, conferences, laboratory practice courses, entertainments, and conventions. With the creation of the New York State College of Home Economics, a Home Maker's Conference was added in 1926, and in 1928, the event was retitled Farm and Home Week. The event was part of the exte...

Redevelopment Area Organization of Cayuga County (N.Y.)

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