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RENVILLE, Minn. -- Frost damage to the 2000 sugar beet crop here
reached what was once a worst-case projection.
The Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative will be discarding
450,000 tons of harvested beets, said Alan Ritacco, president and
chief executive officer. The cooperative had harvested an estimated
2.3 million tons of beets.
The cooperative initially estimated it would have to discard
between 250,000 to 450,000 tons of beets, depending on the extent of
frost damage.
The poor condition of the remaining beets led the cooperative to
end its slicing of the 2000 crop Tuesday. Ritacco said it was no
longer economical to slice the damaged beets.
The cooperative will turn its attention to processing the large
quantity of beet juice produced by this year's slicing operations. |