| TORRINGTON, Wyo. The tare lab is one of the most important segments
of the harvesting process for sugar beet farmers, no matter what company
they grow for. It is where the sugar percentage is determined the
amount of sugar for which each farmer will be paid.
Sugar beet growers in the North Platte Valley were paid more than $46.6
million for their 1999 crop by Holly Sugar and Western Sugar. Final
payments for the 2000 crop will be made at the end of October.
It is a long way from the sugar beet field to pay day. When the beets
are lifted from the ground, they are trucked to receiving stations where
random samples are taken from trucks for each contract. About 50 percent
of a farmers loads will have a 30-pound bag of beets selected for
testing in the tare lab. Contract identification information accompanies
the samples to the tare lab.
At the Holly Sugar lab in Torrington, the beets are dumped into tubs,
weighed a total of three times, washed, dried, topped and sent through a
brie saw that takes a cross section sample of the beets. Each sample has a
bar-coded ticket, with the contract number, that follows it through the
process. Accuracy is of utmost importance, so the system is designed to
shut down if a ticket does not match the sample it started with.
The tare, or amount of dirt and tops that is discarded, is important to
the grower as well. Harvesting practices can be adjusted to eliminate
excess dirt, rocks and too much leaf material, so the amount of trash
hauled to the receiving station, and back home, is reduced.
A 26-gram brie sample, which resembles mashed potatoes, is mixed with
aluminum sulfate, an extractive. This solution is blended one and a half
minutes and then filtered. The remaining solution is tested in a
polarimeter for sugar content. At this point, the nitrate level is also
checked. This reading relates to sugar content as well, with higher
nitrate readings corresponding with lower sugar levels.
Hollys Torrington facility has introduced a new step in the sample
tracking method this year. The system of bar-coded tickets, in use for
several years, has been improved to reduce hand labor and make information
easier to access.
According to David Garland, technical service manager at Holly,
"The information is processed from each point immediately so we dont
have to worry about losing it if the electricity goes down. It is user
friendly and prints out a final report right here in the lab. They used it
at Worland with success last year, and Sidney and Torrington are using it
this year."
Holly growers got some pre-harvest information Thursday evening when
they brought sugar beet samples to the tare lab. According to Craig
Spencer, agriculture manager at Holly in Torrington, the information is
valuable in planning harvest.
"If they brought in a good representative sample, theyll not
only have a good idea of their sugar content, but they can decide what
fields to harvest first and the order of harvest for the others," he
said.
Thursdays results showed a 16.05 percent sugar content, according to
Garland.
"This is probably one of the best sugar numbers weve had in
years," Spencer said. "Everyone is excited about it and hoping
the rest of harvest does as well."
Spencer encourages growers to take advantage of the open door policy at
Hollys tare lab and visit any evening, beginning about 5 p.m. and
running until the days samples are processed.
Hollys harvest begins Oct. 8, and Western Sugar harvest began Sept.
26. The tare lab operates until all sugar beets have been harvested. |