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RENVILLE
9/9/00 -- The area's sugar beet crop is projected to be above average for
the third year in a row, an official of Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar
Cooperative of Renville is predicting.
Dr.
Jimmy Widner, vice president of agriculture for Southern Minnesota Sugar,
is projecting yield between 20.5 and 21 tons per acre, up from the
historical average of about 19 tons per acre. "That will be the third
consecutive year that we've had 20 tons or better,'' Widner said this
week.
Also,
Widner thinks sugar content will approach 17 percent, up from the average
of about 16.5 percent. "It's kind of fun when you get a good crop
with both yield and sugar,'' Widner smiled.
He
attributes the optimistic outlook to earlier than normal planting, timely
rain, minimal replants, lack of adverse weather and reduced foliar
diseases. "Now it looks like we've had minimal number of lost acres,
so the crop is fairly uniform from east to west,'' he said.
The
cooperative is in the second year of the three-year expansion project to
increase efficiency and make environmental improvements at the 25-year-old
factory just east of Renville.
The
co-op has 547 shareholders, up about 25 from last year, and they planted
slightly over 121,000 acres, up slightly from 1999.
The
crop got off to a good start when planting began in mid-April and
concluded by the first of May, which was earlier than normal. Soil
moisture was lacking at the start of the growing season, but June and July
were wet and cool, and August was warm and dry.
The
crop missed many of the severe storms that dumped 8 to 10 inches of rain
on other parts of the state. That amount of rain would have had an adverse
effect on the beet crop, "but we have escaped all of those,'' said
Widner.
"Most
of the area has had timely rains. The crop has continued to make good
progress. At present, we're probably under conditions where there's a
shortage of soil moisture, and this may decrease some of the yield
expectation that could have been realized. I think the crop is still in
position to benefit from any rains that we might receive now and through
the first part of October.''
Widner said the crop is in good shape now. "We
want to make sure that we do everything that we can to take care of it for
the remainder of the growing season.''
Because
of the yield expectations, limited harvest began on Aug. 23 and slicing of
beets in the factory began on Aug. 26. The dates are the earliest for the
co-op, but are related to trying to extract the most sugar at the least
cost, said Widner. Fields that were planted late or were set back for some
reason during the growing season will probably be avoided during the early
harvest.
"When
you start that early, you could experience some low sugars. So we started
on selected fields, and this is the first time that we've tried this
program, working with some shareholders so that we would select the proper
fields for early harvest and on proper portions of fields. That appears to
have worked very well. We're starting with some relatively good sugars for
this time of year.''
Early
deliveries were being made to the piling sites at the factory and at
Murdock, Clara City west and Hector. The co-op expects to open the
remaining piling stations around Sept. 19 or 20.
"We've
been able to keep the factory supplied with beets and the factory has
performed very well over the last 10 days or so,'' said Widner. "That
makes it a whole lot easier to do the work that you know you should do
when things are in balance and make your expectations.''
Full
harvest and 24-hour-per-day deliveries will begin on Oct. 5. Widner
expects all of October will be needed to safely harvest the crop.
Meanwhile,
Widner reminds motorists to drive safely and be alert for farm tractors,
trucks and implements during the "Rush Hour'' harvest season in rural
Minnesota. |