Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative began pre-pile harvest on Monday. Vice President of Agriculture Todd Geselius says the beet crop is about as expected. “It’s variable. Some areas have really nice sugarbeets. Other areas were planted later, it was really dry and not quite as good. There are some really nice looking sugarbeets and less-than-great sugarbeets coming in, too.” Geselius is hopeful sugar content will rise. “Our last root samples were disappointing in terms of sugar content, but with the late planting, it makes sense. They have to get to a certain point in the life cycle to put on the sugar. We hope that will change now that we’ve started pre-pile.”