When we first began living full time in our RV, I did a ton of research on how to bring in extra money while on the road.  One thing that turned up was the Sugar Beet Harvest.

You see, sugar is not only made from sugar cane, but also from sugar beets.  During the month of October in the states of Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota, the harvest of sugar beets for the season begins.  And they need lots of seasonal help!

Why do the Sugar Beet Harvest?

The money promised is really good.  You are generally looking at 2 to 3 weeks of work, 12 hour days with no days off once the harvest begins.  Any time over 8 hours is paid time and a half, Saturdays are time and a half, and Sundays are double time.  Basically, in a 2-3 week period, you have the potential of earning what you might make in a whole season of working at a campground.

What work do you do?

Mainly, the job entails directing trucks full of sugar beets to unload at a huge piler.  The piler then moves the beets on a conveyer belt which shakes off a lot of the dirt and deposits them in huge beet piles that are 40 feet tall and as long as football fields.

We knew lots of folks that had done the harvest.  We didn’t know anyone that had done it twice… But we can do anything for just a few weeks, right?

So, we signed up.

We were contacted in January by the temp company, Express, who kept in touch with us all year.  We only had two requests.  We wanted a full hook up so that we could at least get in a long hot shower after working a 12 hour shift; and we wanted to work day shift.

Express managed to give us both of our requests.  We showed up at the end of September ready to give this harvest thing a try.  They placed us at Grand Forks campground, about 15 miles north of where we would be working.

The campground wasn’t much.  No wifi to speak of, no gravel, just dirt (and mud puddles), but at least it was a full hook up.  And free!

Our Experience at the Sugar Beet Harvest

The year of 2018 would turn out to be a record breaking year.  But not in the good sense.  Due to weather conditions, the harvest would continue until nearly the middle of November.  Beets were lost due to freezing and many workers (including us) were not able to finish the season.

Sugar Beets are the “Goldilocks” of vegetables.  It cannot be too hot, too cold, or two wet to harvest them.

Here is a brief rundown of our experience:

Day One

Day one of the Sugar Beet Harvest is now done. A 13 hour workday. My back hurts, my feet hurt, and my dog got a stomach virus and stunk up the RV while we were gone.

On the bright side, I learned how a beet piler works and even operated the boom for about 5 hours today. Something new for my resume!

Day Two

Day 2 of the harvest included beautiful weather. We were surprised to show up and find that half our team were no shows. According to the foreman, he had several entire crews not show up. Apparently, it is difficult to find people that actually don’t mind a little hard work.

This meant that our piling site had just me, Dave and a sweet little lady named Margie. So… I was trained to be a Piler Operator. That means I’m in charge of running a piece of equipment that is bigger than a house. Craziness. At least it is a nice increase in pay.

Day 5

The weather here in North Dakota has suddenly become winter.
Cold, snow and rain. The fields are so muddy that the farmers cannot get out in them to bring in the sugar beets. We have been put on hold and hopefully can begin to work again late tomorrow or maybe Sunday.

We were fortunate to put in an 8 hour day yesterday before we were shut down by snow.