Local farmers want sugarbeets to be included in the WHIP plus program. Lawmakers are trying to make it happen. “We’re going to do our best to get them included,” says North Dakota Senator John Hoeven. “We’re trying to keep this moving so we’re included in the allocation of the $3 billion available.” House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson says the solution being considered is similar to a provision included in the last disaster bill helping the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative. “The money allocated was supposed to go to individual producers and the cooperative wanted it to go through them. We put language in the bill to allow USDA to do that. They could base it on the farmer, but run it through the cooperative.” A fair solution is sought by the sugarbeet growers. “If you dug sugarbeets, you didn’t necessarily come out better than the person who wasn’t able to harvest,” explained Todd Weber, a farmer from Wheatland, North Dakota. “There are a lot of costs going into that, upwards of $200 an acre to harvest sugarbeets.” Listen to the story.