So far, that's ringing true for Vern Stephen, who grows 200 acres of sugar beets on his farm located at 10050 Garfield Road in Tittabawassee Township.

Stephen planted his beets on March 25, and said he is happy with how his crop looks.

"The beets came up real nice. They have a good color to them and, so far, the weather has cooperated," Stephen said. "We've had ample rain but not too much up until now. If we get too much more, it may be too much."

The healthy beets Stephen and other area growers have planted have representatives at Bay City-based Monitor Sugar Co. excited about the prospects for this year's crop.

According to Paul Pfenninger, vice president of agriculture at Monitor Sugar, 2600 S. Euclid Ave., the first beets went in this year on March 23.

"That's early, and anytime you get an early start, you usually get a good crop," Pfenninger said.

Stephen explained that sugar beets never ripen, they simply continue to grow until they are pulled from the ground.

"The longer you leave them in the ground, the bigger they'll get and the more sugar they'll contain," Stephen said.

About 1,000 of Monitor Sugar's contracted acres were planted in March with many of the remaining acres planted in early April during a stretch of warm, dry weather.

Pfenninger said between 30 and 40 percent of the 74,862 acres contracted by Monitor Sugar this year were planted in mid-April and experienced some emergence problems due to crusting.

Crusting is a condition of the soil that occurs due to rain followed by sun. The soil dries, making it difficult for younger plants to poke through the surface.

However, Pfenninger said growers replanted just 7.4 percent of this year's crop, compared to 19 percent last year. That's also well below the five-year average of 12.3 percent.

"I didn't replant any of my sugar beets," Stephen said.

"We've got 74,392 acres planted now," Pfenninger said. "Last year, we contracted for 72,728 acres and ended up planting 70,018 acres."

But last year, Monitor Sugar only harvested 62,529 acres after abandonment and the U.S. government's Payment In Kind program, which paid growers to plow under acres to minimize production and cut into a growing national surplus of sugar.

"As a result, we weren't running at full capacity last year once production began in the fall," Pfenninger said. "We have never really run at full capacity."

The five-year average for acres harvested is 60,109, but Pfenninger expects this year's harvest to generate between 70,000 and 71,000 acres, enough to bring the plant to full production this fall.

"We typically expect to lose about 3 percent of our crop," Pfenninger said. "Right now, we're off to a good start. We have a long way to go, but the beets look good. We're looking for some pretty good yields this year."

Last year, the average yield was 19.6 tons of beets per acre. The five-year average is 17.23 tons per acre.

"We're looking to match and surpass last year's yield," Pfenninger said. "Right now, the beets in Bay, Saginaw, Tuscola, Huron and Arenac counties look extremely good. Those in Gratiot, Midland and Isabella got a little wet in April and are a couple weeks behind and the beets we have in Sanilac County are a little dry and also a couple weeks behind."

Pfenninger said about 20 percent of Monitor Sugar's total contracted acres are in Gratiot County, which does raise some concern.

"We may have to live with a little less production from Gratiot County, but we expect to make up for it in other counties where the beets are absolutely gorgeous," Pfenninger said.

Pfenninger said Monitor Sugar plans to begin a 150- to 160-day production campaign on or around Sept. 20 and expects to be in full swing by Oct. 1.

"That would be an early start for us, but we want to do that so the beets don't sit around losing sugar content," Pfenninger said.

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