| Its one of the most exciting times of the year for Dale Kuehl.
After months of preparation, the Glyndon, Minn., beet farmer finally
gets to see if his hard work in the field has paid off.
And so far, it looks like it has.
Its kind of fun to get in there and see what you got after
watching them all summer, Kuehl said Monday while lifting beets from a
field near Glyndon.
I think its going to be OK, he said. Its not going to be
a record.
Shareholders at American Crystal Sugar, headquartered in Moorhead, and
Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative, located at Wahpeton, N.D., began a pre-pile
harvest Monday of early maturing beets. Early indicators point to an
average harvest in both yield and sugar content.
The only factor not consistent with the last few years will probably be
price, said Jeff Schweitzer, a spokesman for American Crystal.
Prices are at a 20-year low and markets continue to be depressed
because of the oversupply situation in domestic markets, he said,
Schweitzer wouldnt guess what type of price this years crop would
fetch.
The Midwests wholesale refined sugar beet price as of July, however,
is $22.50 per pound, according to Milling and Baking News, a trade
publication that tracks agricultural news and prices. Thats up slightly
from the $19 per pound of sugar offered June, July and August of 2000.
When looking at sugar prices over the past 22 years, $22.50 is low.
Prices ranged from a high of $51.77 in October 1980, to $18.94 in
November 1978 with the price mostly staying around $25, according to
Milling and Baking News.
(Price) predictions for this year are at levels as low as we have
probably seen them, Kuehl said. But there is talk of improvement.
The optimism is there.
The 8.8 million tons of beets expected to be harvested this year at
American Crystals five factories is just below last years total of
about 9 million tons.
The sugar content of the beets harvested so far also compares to 2000.
Our shareholders got into the fields a little bit late,
Schweitzer said. But we have had a pretty decent growing season.
Crystals 3,000 shareholders will harvest about 10 percent or 880,000
tons of beets between now and full harvest which starts in October.
Of the 486,000 acres of sugar beets shareholders planted, about 10,000
pounds were lost to disease. Another 15,000 acres will be eliminated by
the government subsidized Payment-in-Kind Program in which farmers are
essentially paid to destroy their crop in an effort to keep supply down.
All of American Crystals factories will be operating by Wednesday.
Patricia Keough-Wilson of Minn-Dak expected 1.8 million tons of beets
harvested this year and also anticipated the sugar content to be good.
Minn-Daks factory will also be operating by Wednesday.
Mark Weber, executive director of the Red River Valley Growers
Association, was unavailable for comment.
This is the preseason for sugar beets, Schweitzer said. It is
an important time for (farmers) to realize some of the benefits of their
crops. This is the time of year that they get to reap what the sow. |