Harvest was a mixed bag for growers across sugarbeet country.
According to Jack Breidenbach with the Colorado Sugarbeet Growers Association, “Conditions have been real good, but a little bit on the warm side. We’ve had some harvest delays because of the heat. We need to have the beet temp below 50 degrees. So, we’ve been starting at four in the morning a lot of mornings and going only till noon because the beet temp has be below 50 degrees.”
Despite some of the delays, Breidenbach says that yields across several states faired quite well.
“Nebraska is estimated to have a 31-ton-per-acre crop with a 18.9 sugar, which is an excellent crop. In Colorado, the estimated yield is 32.5-ton-per-acre with an 18.3 sugar content, which is an excellent crop,” he adds. “On our western sugar coop in our north growing areas in Billings, Montana, they’ve got a good crop going up there with about a 32-ton crop with an 18.7 sugar, and our other growing area up in northeast Wyoming, not too far from Billings, and they’ve got a good crop going, 29.5 ton with a 19.2 sugar, which is a real good crop too.”
The U.S. produces more than 30 million tons of sugarbeets each year, and each harvest acre serves as the source of nearly 4 tons of refined sugar.
