| RIVERTON, Wyo. (AP) - A late spring snowstorm which dropped
temperatures to as low as 24 degrees damaged more than
one-third of Fremont County's sugar beet crop. "We're
still evaluating the loss, but it was widespread and pretty
much affected every grower," Riverton Holly Sugar
agriculturist Dave Dahlsad said. "The individual impact
has been from thinning the crop to losing whole fields."
The storm blew through the state May 20, freezing leaves on
emerging plants on an estimated 1,200 of the county's 3,456
acres of sugar beets.
"Most of the beets won't be replanted because it took
about one-third of their water allotment just to bring them
out of the ground," Dahlsad said.
Dave Mischke, of Holly's Worland office, said the freeze
was unusual because of the size of the plants affected.
"The wind blew for so long the leaves
freeze-dried," he said. "It's typical of what a
really cold arctic wind will do to young, vulnerable beets.
"We've never seen anything like it here, and I don't
want to see it again."
Making matters worse, some growers won't be able to use
their beet fields for other crops because of the chemicals
used, Riverton insurance agent Lynn Paskett said.
"The chemicals they put on sugar beets take away the
option of planting any crops other than sugar beets, so any
chemicals on the fields will dictate what crop the producers
can follow up with if they decide not to replant their
beets," he said.
It is getting late in the season to be planting any crop,
Paskett said.
"Right now the adjusters are working out the numbers
for them," he said. "It'll be hard on some."
Fremont County Agriculture Extension Agent Ron Cunningham
said 2001 is turning out "not to be a fun year to be in
agriculture."
On the Net:
Wyoming Agriculture Department: http://wyagric.state.wy.us
Wyoming Agriculture Statistics Service: http://www.nass.usda.gov/wy |