But never fear, things are getting better, say representatives from Monitor Sugar Co., who spoke Thursday during the annual meeting of the Monitor Sugar Beet Growers Inc. at the Horizon Conference Center in Saginaw.

"This past year has been like .the movie "A Nightmare On Elm Street,'" said Jerry Coleman, vice president of marketing at Monitor Sugar, 2600 S. Euclid Ave., of the bloody and bizarre 1980s series of films.

"It was pretty scary. But, I do believe the recovery has begun and we have put the worst behind us."

Calling last year's sugar prices "atrocious," Coleman said markets have begun to rebound from historic lows in 2000 and growers should benefit in the form of a .higher payment for their 2000 crop.

"There are still some challenges out there, both locally and on the world stage, but prices this year will be better than last year," Coleman predicted.

Monitor Sugar's growers received a total payment of $32.92 per ton for their 1999 crop, more than $2 less than the payment received for the 1998 crop.

Recapping the 2000 growing season and harvest, Paul Pfenninger, vice president of agricul.ture at Monitor Sugar, said growers did a good job of compensating for a wet planting season and warm temperatures during harvest.

"Our growers are to be congratulated for producing a crop very high in quality," Pfenninger said. "This has been a challenging year."

He said Monitor's growers ended up harvesting 62,562 acres, well below the 72,728 acres the company contracted. However, above-average yields helped .bridge the gap.

"Our average yield was 19.59 tons per acre," Pfenninger said. "We usually hope for 18.5 tons per acre and our current five-year average is 17.22 tons per acre, so this year was very good in terms of yield."

Pfenninger expressed some disappointment in how beets were harvested, telling growers that many did a poor job of topping their beets.

Topping beets involves removing the foliage from the beet before pulling it from the ground. During warm weather, the foliage becomes more difficult to remove, but if left on can cause excess heat to build up in storage piles, causing beets to spoil more rapidly.

"Some growers met the challenge and got their beets topped and others did not," Pfenninger said.

"It was a shame to see damaged beets be put in the storage piles. I know we'll do better next year."

As for the 2001 sugar beet season, Pfenninger said Monitor Sugar has started negotiating with growers and expects to contract 73,000 acres.

Robert L. Hetzler, president and chief executive officer of Monitor Sugar, said he is optimistic about the future of sugar beets and told growers to "expect better times once we get through these tough times."

From the company's standpoint, Hetzler said the plant is running well and is processing about as many beets as it can handle.

"We have sliced about 700,000 tons of beets so far this year," Hetzler said.

"That is well ahead of last year, when we had sliced only 565,000 tons at this time," Hetzler said.

All of Monitor's representatives were joined by Ray VanDriessche, president of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association, in encouraging area sugar beet growers not to give up on the crop.

"The sugar beet industry is different than other industries because you can't decide to get in or out each year," VanDriessche said.

"If acreage falls, it's tough to keep a company like Monitor Sugar open.

"I know markets have not been where we'd like them, but if we stick with it, we'll all get through this together and we'll all be stronger in the long run," VanDriessche said.

-Rob Clark is business editor for The Times. He can be reached at 894-9642.