| RIVERTON, Wyo. (AP) - Fremont County farmers have cut their sugarbeet
harvest short because the drought this summer and late frost last spring
lowered their crop yields.
Normally the harvest extends well into October but farmers started
pulling sugarbeets last week. A receiving station in Midvale was operating
only one of its two pilers, and only for about half a day.
Jerry Weliever in the Missouri Valley said he has reaped about 10 tons
of beets per acre, which is slightly less than half the normal yield.
Several neighbors lost their crops because of a lack of water, he said.
Frost has affected others, even if water was not a problem.
The problems have cast doubt on whether a sugar refinery in Worland
will stay open. Farmers in the Wind and Big Horn basins are expected to
buy the refinery to keep it open.
"People just aren't as enthusiastic about sugarbeets as they have
been," said Gary Jennings, who farms just north of Riverton. |