Beet harvest kicks off
Tuesday, October 10, 2006 10:47 AM PDT
Larry Meyer | Argus Observer
NYSSA
With their onions in storage, some area farmers have turned their attention to sugar beets.
The annual sugar beet harvest started last week in the lower Treasure Valley and Amalgamated Sugar Company said it hopes for at least an average crop for 2006.
Amalgamated Sugar Company Agriculture Manager Clark Mallard - who oversees the firm's Nyssa and Nampa districts - said the receiving station in the Payette area opened Oct. 2, followed by Weiser on Oct. 3. The company began accepting beets at Nyssa on Thursday and some growers had their harvest well underway that day.
Mallard said it is still early to comment accurately on the size or the condition of the beet crop, though he said so far fields show a lot of promise.
“Early estimates put the (average) yield at the five-year average,” he said.
That would be around 30 tons per acre or a little over, he said, even with the late planting because of the wet spring.
However, he suggested with a normal planting it could have been better.
“We had a good summer. But, you can never make it all up,” he said.
Other area farmers contacted said they would withhold judgment until they saw the beets coming out of the ground. Last year, Amalgamated Sugar Company officials announced they would no longer process beets at the Nyssa factory, and this fall there was a major change in the leadership of the company.
As of Oct. 1, Victor “Vic” J. Jaro, a 33-year veteran of Amalgamated Sugar Company, assumed the position of president and CEO of the company.
He succeeded Ralph Burton who retired after more than 36 years at the company. Terry Ketterling, chairman of the board of the Snake River Sugar Company, the grower cooperative which owns Amalgamated, said in making the announcement that Jaro, an engineer, climbed through the ranks of the company from mechanical engineer to vice president of agriculture, a post he held until he became CEO.
