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The Sidney Holly Sugar Ag staff expects to have a busy growing season this year. Russ Fullmer, ag manager, reports that agriculturists have spent time working out each individual growers beet allotment, or the number of acres that each grower will have for sugarbeets this year. This allotment assessment prepares the way for the annual contracting of individual growers beet acres. Fullmer expects actual contracting with individual growers will begin by the first of March. Were waiting for approval from the Grower Board before we begin to contract, Fullmer says. The Board wants some guarantees from Imperial regarding the bankruptcy. Growers need certain guarantees, and we expect Imperial will make these guarantees.

He adds, We hope to begin contracting acres by the first of March.

Fullmer expects Imperial to be out of bankruptcy by May 1. Thats the target were shooting for, he says.

Holly Sugar will contract the same number of acres this year as they contracted last year, with no increase in acres. There was talk of an increase in acres this year, Fullmer notes. However, well stick with the same number of acres that we had last year because of the way the last of the beets turned out. Storage was not good. We havent had good storage for the past four years, and this is very unusual.

Fullmer explains that although the tolled beets stored and processed well, the factory owned beets, bought under the old contract, did not store well. We processed the tolled beets first, Fullmer states. They were under a lot of ventilation, the piles were smaller, and they stored well.

The factory owned beets did not fare so well. The freeze and thaw cycles that occurred during January ruined several thousand tons of factory owned beets. We had a lot of rotten beets, Fullmer remarks. The piles were covered with snow in November, and in January, warmer temperatures caused a lot of melting. The sides of piles were filled with ice and frozen beets, but inside the piles, beets were warm and steaming.

He adds, We didnt have the luxury of using early ends and stripping piles, things we usually do in October, and this contributed to the problem.

Beet deterioration occurred rapidly in January, within the space of about two weeks. Holly Sugar discarded several thousand tons of stored beets, a rarity for the Sidney factory. The factory discarded 5500 tons of beets this year, Fullmer states. This is very unusual.

In spite of the problems, Fullmer does see some positive results from this winters campaign. We are always learning, he says. Weve learned to put everything we can under ventilation, to take the early ends, strip the sides on bigger piles, and keep pile height low. If we get another year with a freeze-thaw cycle, well open piles and make sure beets can breathe.

Fullmer also feels the grower board learned a lot this year. The grower board picked up a great education on how the factory operates, Fullmer notes. They learned how different conditions can affect the operation, and the costs of operating the factory.

He adds, The cooperative idea is still an option, and the board is still looking into that possibility.

Factory crews finished out the slice on February 10, and will spend one more month processing the stored thick juice.

Fullmer also reports that all Holly Sugar factories have a new computer program, called AgTrac, for use in the Ag departments. Growers will have one contract, regardless of the number of farms they operate. However, growers will have addenda to the main contract so each field can be contracted separately.

Under the new program, growers will get one check, along with a statement sheet detailing all deductions. Growers will get one check, even if they have 20 addenda to their contract, Fullmer says. We expect the grower statement will be a lot clearer so growers know exactly what has been deducted. With the new system, growers can follow the statement a lot easier and check the amount, something that is hard to do under the present system.

AgTrac will enable the Holly Sugar ag staff and the growers to track field yields, farm yields, and to build up a farm history. We can track by farm or by field, we can track yield, seed, and soil type. Growers have numerous options, Fullmer comments. Growers can follow a number of different categories.

He adds, All of the ag departments in the corporation will have this AgTrac program. Im sure there will be a few growing pains until we get the system up and fully operational, so I hope everyone bears with us on this.

AgTrac will start with this crop year.