The sugar beet harvesting season has officially begun in Crookston, as farmers took to the fields late Thursday night.
American Crystal Sugar Agronomy Manager Travis Pederson felt the pre-harvest preparations went well despite the warm and dry conditions over the summer months. “We started our pre-pile back in the middle of August, and we started on the drier side as the month of July and August were, and with that, the crop tonnage wise was behind where we normally would expect to see that time of year, but the sugar content was up. We got some rain around Labor Day that helped bump some tonnage up, and a few rain showers again through September. That’s certainly helping the tonnage, and now hopefully with the cooler nights and drier conditions, we’ll see that quality and sugar content start to bump up as well through the month of October.”
Many locations in and around Crookston reported multiple inches of rain at the start of the week, but Pederson was not concerned that it would affect the start of harvesting. He was pleased with the conditions on Thursday and the outlook for the next few weeks of the harvest. “We kind of shoot for that October 1 date, and a lot of different factors play into that startup, and certainly the wet conditions from that rain were part of it. And then the other side of it is the heat, and you know we have some daytime highs that are a little warmer than what we like for long-term storage, and so that certainly played into getting going. Field conditions are far from favorable, but the last couple days have been nice drying weather, some wind, some sun, and the forecast looks good here coming up for more drying into next week”
With some rain throughout September and cooler temperatures expected in October, Pederson expects a smaller crop by tonnage than the record amounts in recent years, but early indicators suggest a high-quality sugar yield. “We mentioned that the lack of rainfall through the summer certainly has impacted the crop. We came off a few record years the last couple years, and we won’t see anything like that. But I think we’ll have a respectable crop, tonnage-wise, and hopefully the quality, like you mentioned, after the rain can start to bump up here as time goes. We’ve got some warm weather next week, so we’ll see some shutdowns again for heat, but hopefully with that comes some improvement in the crop as well.”
With an increase in farm equipment on roadways, Pederson encourages residents to remain vigilant, especially in the late-night and early-morning hours, and to pay attention to road conditions, including mud splatter. “We just ask for people to take their time. We’ve got a lot of drivers, trucks, farm equipment moving on the road, and not always at the speed of normal traffic flows, so we just ask that people take their time and stay safe and have a productive harvest here. So we certainly might have a little mud up on the road too. So stay aware of that and go from there.”
Stay tuned to KROX for more sugarbeet harvest updates.
