Today sugar beet production is a small part of Colorado’s economy, but in the twentieth century it was the most important agricultural activity in the state. Area farmers relied on sugar beets as an important cash crop, however, each harvest required thousands of nonunionized fieldworkers. Successful beet cultivation required periods of such intense drudgery that farmers had to find wage-laborers to expedite the work. Farmers and sugar companies actively recruited Mexicans and Chicanos, and the region drew many migrants.

The sugar beet industry, which started in Colorado in 1899, was the largest employer of Hispanics in Colorado by the late 1920s. Their employment was as agricultural hand laborers, performing low-skilled, tedious work at the irregular demands of seasonal agriculture. These individuals are often left out of Colorado histories, yet they contributed the bulk of human energy needed to convert beets into sugar. Without their labor, the sugar beet industry and other labor-intensive agricultural industries in Colorado would not have prospered. Through their sweat and toil, Colorado became the largest sugar producing state in the United States in 1909.

The work was long and hard, sunup to sundown. There were no age limits to who could work the beet fields, consequently five-year-old children and grandparents were out in the hot sun doing the back-breaking work of thinning and topping beets from dawn to dusk. An average family would work an area the size of a football field, receiving the sum of $10.00 a day for their work.

The standard tool for working the sugar beets was the short-handled hoe. The short-handled hoe required workers to stoop over as they used it to cultivate crops. Working with the short-handled hoe had long term consequences for agricultural laborers. Many growers believed short-handled hoes made workers more careful and kept crops from being damaged. The bosses also liked the short-handled hoe because they could tell at a glance whether the farm laborers were working or resting. The hoe became a symbol of the exploitive working conditions as it took a big toll on the backs of so many. Campaigns by United Farm workers and others helped outlaw the use of the hoe in 1975.