News

A warm start to sugarbeet harvest in Red River Valley

The vice president of agriculture for American Crystal Sugar Company says warm temperatures have been a nemesis for sugarbeet farmers as the full harvest campaign begins.

Steve Rosenau says farmers are limited to harvesting the sugarbeet crop in the morning.

“We’re not able to store them long-term if they come out warmer than 55 degrees Fahrenheit and get placed in a pile. In the afternoons we’ve had quite a few shutdowns due to heat and then, farmers get going again at night.”

Rosenau says the heat also delayed the start of the full harvest campaign (beginning last Thursday) and harvest is now 40% complete for the co-op. But there is a benefit to having one of the driest Septembers in history… “That leads to sugar content increasing and we’re in the upper 18% for sugar.”

Rosenau says he’s expecting the heat to continue to affect harvest the rest of this week and sugarbeet tonnage is expected to average in the lower 30s this year.