Farmers in Drayton, N.D.'s western factory district started digging sugar beets on Wednesday, said David Berg, American Crystal Sugar Co.'s vice president for agriculture. The beets will be hauled to factories in Drayton and East Grand Forks, where slicing will begin on Friday.

American Crystal Sugar Co., a farmer-owned cooperative based in Moorhead, is made up of 3,000 shareholders in North Dakota and Minnesota. The co-op employs about 1,700 people and has an annual economic impact of $1.5 billion on the Red River Valley, said Jeff Schweitzer, American Crystal public relations manager.

The sugar co-op conducts the prepile beet campaign so it can get its factories up and running and iron out equipment problems before the sugar beet harvest begins in early October.

"It's kind of like an exhibition game for the football teams," Berg said. Meanwhile, the prepile harvest also utilizes expensive factory equipment that otherwise would sit idle during September, he said. "We could start in October, but that would sacrifice a month of utilization."

Prepile at American Crystal's other factory districts will begin Sept. 10. Besides Drayton and East Grand Forks, American Crystal has factory districts in Crookston, Moorhead and Hillsboro, N.D.

This year's beet harvest is expected to produce from 18 to 19 tons an acre, depending on the area of the Red River Valley in which they're grown, Berg said. While field conditions in some areas were excessively wet this summer, he didn't expect it to be tough going for farmers harvesting on Wednesday.

Actually, this week's hot, dry weather is more of a concern now because the beets brought in for the prepile harvest have to sit on the ground for a couple of days before slicing begins, Berg said. American Crystal piles beets for a couple of days before the slicing campaign begins, so it has a two- to three-day supply on hand when the factory gears up.