Good moisture increases tonnage but lowers sugar content

By JOHN O'CONNELL

Capital Press

Idaho sugar beet growers have been somewhat disappointed by the sugar content of this year's crop but say tonnage has exceeded expectations.

"It looks to me like the sugars are not quite as good as we would like. My sugars were about 15.5 percent," Aberdeen grower Ken Horsch, a Snake River Co-op board member, said early in his harvest.

He added last year's company average was 17.5 percent.

On the other hand, the National Agricultural Statistics Service predicted in its October production statement Idaho growers will harvest 5.73 million tons of sugar beets this year, up 9 percent, with an average yield of 32.2 tons per acre, up 1.2 tons. They've planted 178,000 acres of sugar beets, up by 8,000 acres.

Vic Jaro, president and chief executive officer of Amalgamated Sugar, believes those yield estimates are conservative.

"We're thinking 33 or better on an average basis," Jaro said. "In Treasure Valley, I've heard numbers in the 40s. ... I think there will be some fields that will be as high as they've ever been or higher."

U.S. sugar beet production, however, is forecast to be 29.2 million tons, down 9 percent from last year.

"Sugar is in a good place. Prices are at or above last year, and we were in the mid-$50s per ton," Jaro said.

He said the trend of slightly low sugar content but favorable yields has also held true in Washington and Oregon.

The yields are especially impressive to Jaro given the late start to a season delayed by a cool and damp spring. In Idaho, wet weather has also delayed harvesting. NASS reported only 22 percent of Idaho beets had been harvested as of the week ending Oct. 16, down 10 percent from normal.

"The beets are very well hydrated and that has a tendency to dilute sugars and increase tons," Jaro said.

Troy Warner, an Amalgamated crop consultant in Aberdeen, said his district's sugar average has been 16.5 percent.

With the majority of sugar beets yet to be harvested, Jaro hopes dry and cool weather will push sugar content closer to the average for the past three years, slightly above 17 percent.

American Falls grower Lamar Isaak, president of Upper Snake River Sugarbeet Growers, has seen yields of 30-35 tons per acre, compared with 30 tons last year.

"We're up in tons and down in sugar," Isaak said, summarizing what he described as "an exciting year for sugar beet production" overall.

"I haven't heard of one unhappy person," he said.

Though the sizes of individual beets have been smaller than normal, Doug Ruff, who farms in the Pleasant Valley and Sterling areas near Aberdeen, estimates yields have been between 2 and 3 tons per acre more than expected. Ruff noted the late start to the season spared growers from having to replant any crops killed by spring frost, and he believes there's still time for sugars to rebound.

"We're all smiles," Ruff said.