| The sugar beet harvest is about 80 percent complete, but is
still expected to run into early November, according to Holly Sugar's
Torrington factory agricultural manager Rick Griffith.
"Things are
progressing well; we're on the downhill slide now," Griffith said.
"We'll have some stations closing within the week. Growers are
finishing up every day."
Although the overall yield for the region has been good, sugar content
averages have been somewhat lower than expected. This is not good news for
producers who get paid by the amount of sugar in the beets.
Jean Good, who takes time off from her regular job in Torrington to
drive one of the trucks from the farm she and her husband, Bruce, own to
the receiving station in Lingle during the harvest, said their yield
finished right around 26.3 tons per acre while the sugar content of their
beets averaged about 15.4 percent.
"I've heard of some who only got 10 tons per acre, though,"
Good said.
"The yield this year has been above average - about 20 tons per
acre. Some contracts actually finished out around 28 to 30 tons an acre.
That's an excellent yield," Griffith explained.
"The sugar is quite a bit lower than we had hoped for. The average
sugar content has been around about 15.6 percent (optimal levels are
between 16 and 17 percent)."
"Mainly, I think, it was the early freeze," Griffith said.
"After the freeze, then it warmed up and there was some moisture, so
the beets actually started producing leaves again." That means they
are not producing sugar.
"What I think happened this year, is the hard early freeze right
after the hot dry summer (which actually promoted the higher yields). The
plants will actually shut down and that's where they are when they're
harvested," Griffith concluded. |