The Red River Valley's sugar beet farmers are heavily invested in the nation's congressional races -- more than any other North Dakota or Minnesota industry.

About $856,000 in campaign contributions have been doled out by the 3,000 farmers who own Moorhead-based American Crystal Sugar Co. and by the company's employees, the Federal Election Commission reports.

The farmers are banking that their congressional picks will win on Nov. 2 and befriend sugar on Capitol Hill.

Their political action committee has invested more in this year's congressional races than any other industry PAC in Minnesota, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that tracks money in politics.

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Sugar is also the king of federal campaign contributions in North Dakota. The 500 grower-shareholders in the Wahpeton-based Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative have donated about $231,000 to federal candidates, the FEC says.

American Crystal's shareholders contributed to Senate and House candidates in sugar states and non-sugar states, to incumbents and challengers, to Democrats and Republicans, said Kevin Price, American Crystal's director of governmental affairs.

"We support those who support us," Price said.

The region's two sugar beet cooperatives collectively gave Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., $15,000. They gave Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., $14,700, and Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., $14,000, according the Center for Responsive Politics.

If the cooperatives gave to the incumbents' challengers, the donations were under $1,000 and not included in the center's list of top contributors.

American Crystal donated 60 percent of its contributions to Democratic candidates and 40 percent to Republicans. Minn-Dak divvied its PAC money by giving Democrats 54 percent and Republicans 46 percent, the center reports.

American Crystal and Minn-Dak officials said their PAC money only helps finance congressional races.

"We don't get involved in presidential politics, said David Roche, Minn-Dak's president and CEO.

The center reports that national sugar interests have contributed about $61,000 to President Bush's re-election campaign, while giving Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry about $19,000.

Sugar beet growers in the Red River Valley have a long history of political activism, Roche said.

"Making a political contribution doesn't guarantee anything," he said. "It's not only about money, but also shoe leather in making the contacts, lobbying to tell our story."

Survival in the sugar industry can depend on being politically active, Price said.

The sugar program, which protects the U.S. market partly by limiting imports, has repeatedly come under attack, he said.

"We look at whatever policy threats are out there," Price said. "We respond to the political environment we're in."

Trade agreements forwarded by the Bush administration are the latest threat, sugar industry officials said.

Since early this year, sugar producers have worked to build coalitions in Congress and with other industries to defeat the U.S. Central American Free Trade Agreement.

"This year, because the CAFTA is a key issue to our cooperative, that's certainly been a consideration when they make contributions," Roche said. "We want to know where they (congressional candidates) stand and to support those who share our view."

The CAFTA, if passed by Congress, would give six Central American countries greater access to the U.S. sugar market. Unlike most farmers, sugar producers don't receive production payments. Instead, the industry is supported with tariffs and domestic production allotments that control supplies and domestic sugar prices.

The CAFTA and other ongoing trade agreements threaten to bury the U.S. market in subsidized foreign sugar, said Luther Markwart, executive vice president of the American Sugar Beet Growers Association in Washington.

Trade officials are in talks with the Andean countries, which produce about 1.5 million tons of sugar a year. They're also negotiating trade deals with other sugar-producing countries such as Thailand and South Africa.

Sugar producers fear the CAFTA is a template for other trade accords to come.

Some farmers -- including producers of livestock, wheat, corn and soybeans -- support the CAFTA, saying it would give them greater export opportunities.

Vice President Dick Cheney tried to assure sugar producers Monday during his stop in Moorhead that the Bush administration will not trade away their industry.

Peterson, who represents the nation's largest sugar producing district, said he's not convinced.

"I don't think they're plotting to get rid of sugar," Peterson said. "But we're not anywhere near the top of their list of industries to protect, either."

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