About Us
Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative (MDFC) is located in Wahpeton, a city in the southeast corner of North Dakota, in the heart of the Red River Valley. MDFC has a 1200 acre footprint in Richland County, North Dakota. The Cooperative is owned by approximately 500 sugarbeet Shareholders/Growers who collectively grow 115,000 acres of sugarbeets and is part of the domestic sweetener industry. MDFC employs about 304 year-round, 147 seasonal and 295 harvest employees MDFC Shareholders produce sugarbeets for processing at the Cooperative’s plant in Wahpeton.
MDFC has a rich history that dates back to the 1970s, when a group of sugarbeet farmers formed Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative. Following is a timeline of events that have made MDFC what it is today.
| Time period |
Occurrence |
| Late 1930s |
First efforts made to get a sugarbeet factory in Wahpeton/Breckenridge |
| 1950–1970 |
Active efforts by farmers and business people to obtain factory and an acreage allotment from the US Department of Agriculture |
| Aug. 30th, 1972 |
MDFC officially formed |
| Sept. 25th, 1972 |
First MDFC grower acreage signup |
| Feb. 3rd, 1973 |
Factory groundbreaking |
| Feb. 26th, 1973 |
Construction begins |
| Mar. 25th, 1973 |
MDFC Board of Directors elected |
| Apr. 8th, 1974 |
North Central Sugar Marketing officially formed |
| Apr. 19th, 1974 |
First MDFC beets planted by Richard Yaggie |
| Sept. 7th, 1974 |
Factory dedicated |
| Oct. 1st, 1974 |
First campaign gets underway with an estimated 800,000 tons of beets |
| Apr. 23rd, 1979 |
Midwest Agri-Commodities officially formed |
| July 11th, 1989 |
Minn-Dak Yeast Company officially formed |
| Jan.1st, 1994 |
United Sugars Corporation officially formed |
| Jan. 1995 |
MDFC expansion begins |
| Dec. 1999 |
Expansion completed |
| Feb. 4, 2015 | Molasses Desugarizing Facility Startup
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May 1, 2017
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Minn-Dak Yeast Company sold to Dakota Yeast LLC, a subsidiary of Lallemand Inc.
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