Sugarbeet harvest for American Crystal Sugar Company is tentatively shutdown until midnight Wednesday due to the heat. That’s according to general agronomist Joe Hastings. Hastings says daytime temperatures are too warm to allow for the sugarbeets to cool down. “The tentative plan right now is to get messages out to the growers. At mid-day on Wednesday, more heat is expected and we’re preparing for another heat shutdown. Hopefully, we can get back up and going after that for awhile. Friday morning looks like there’s freezing temperatures.” Hastings says sugar content is climbing nicely. “We are an estimated 19 percent complete with this harvest. Sugars are looking great, averaging 17.8 percent in the last daily samples. We’ve been dry and sugarbeets are responding. You don’t always see that in a late year,” says Hastings. “Yields have been coming up about one point each week.” The co-op is currently estimating the average yield at 26 tons per acre.
News Categories
Latest RRFN Podcasts
Subscribe to RRFN
Get a weekly digest from RRFN to stay up-to-date on all the latest news in agriculture.