The numbers are in, and this year’s sugar beet harvest was record-setting for American Crystal Sugar. After a dry start to the season, a little rain and a warm September set the stage for the record harvest.
There were 12.7 million tons of sugar beets harvested, which beat the previous record of 12.1 million tons. Tonnage, which is the total weight of beets delivered on a per-acre basis, was just under 32 tons per acre. Sugar content was at 18.55%, and minimal molasses was lost. “As far as a comparison goes, it was a 32-ton crop, a ton and a half better than what we’ve had in the past with our previous record,” said Crookston Factory Agronomy Manager Travis Pederson. “As far as sugar content, it ranks second best as the quality of the crop goes in our history.”
Pederson was surprised that the crop was as good as it was after a dry start to the season, but he began to expect a good crop once the conditions got better in September. “That last month really kind of set the stage,” Pederson said. “The little presence of disease and then a good root shape kind of sets the stage, the weather’s right, and I guess a perfect storm of weather to finish off the season. I guess the writing was on the wall after we got started and heard from the growers what we were delivering.”
Farmers being proactive with new genetics with their CR plus varieties helped fend off diseases like Cercospora, Rhizoctonia, and Aphanomyces. Due to the ample supply, farmers had to leave some sugar beets in the ground. “As far as the crop goes, we left about 8% of the crop,” Pederson said. “In our Target Acre Program this year, we left about 9% of those acres that were in the program. So about 8-9% of the crop.” The Target Acre Program is designed to allow company shareholders to plant additional sugar beet acres to maximize the utilization of the company’s processing assets.
The record-setting crop is now being processed. Pederson says that the processing is off to a good start. “Things overall have gone good, and that starts with a good quality product the growers bring in, and we pile,” Pederson said. “We got a lot of work in front of us as far as storage and processing goes the next seven months, but overall, we’re off to a good start.”
The Crookston District accounted for 11.7% of the total acres harvested.
