From peaches to potatoes, important crops are being harvested across western Colorado, and harvesting will continue through late autumn. So, I thought I’d write a couple of history columns about crops that were important to this region historically.
Harvesting sugar beets in Mesa County, early 20th Century. Photo courtesy of the Museums of Western Colorado.
The first column is about sugar beets, which were a significant cash crop in the area for many decades, until Holly Sugar closed its last sugar plant on the Western Slope, in Delta, in the 1970s.
The second column is about potatoes, which remain an important crop today in parts of western Colorado and especially, the San Luis Valley, This item is about the mobile education system used to train farmers early in the 20th century in the art of growing potatoes.
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