Beet harvest arrives
This year’s crop is shaping up to be one of the best ever

By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Saturday, October 17, 2009 11:52 PM PDT

Dick Corn drives the tractor in this harvest operation in one of his fields north of Nyssa. The beets will be hauled to the Nampa Amalgamated Sugar Company plant, which now processes beets grown in areas from La Grande to Elmore and Owyhee counties.

NYSSA

Despite wet weather, the 2009 area sugar beet harvest has the potential to be a banner crop, according to an Amalgamated Sugar Company official and local growers.

And at least one area grower attributed the potential windfall crop to be linked to the use of “Round-up ready” sugar beets.

“We’ve just really gotten started,” Clark Mallard, the Amalgamated Sugar Company manager who oversees the crop production and harvest, said.

Less than two weeks into this year’s campaign, by Friday, the harvest was about 15 percent complete.

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“We actually started about the fifth (here in the valley).” he said. 

That is eight days earlier than last year.

“We started in La Grande on Sept. 28. The factory started on the eighth,” Mallard said.

Even at this early date, Mallard said yield numbers indicate a record-breaking crop.

Friday he estimated an early average yield of 36 tons per acre, a full ton ahead of last year.

“It could very well happen,” he said. “It had a better growing season. We had better stands.”

Farmers were able to get into the fields earlier this year, which helps the overall crop yield. Plus, farmers did not have to grapple with late frosts like they did in 2008, Mallard said.

A year ago, Mallard said cold temperatures hampered growth of sugar beets in the spring and a good summer could not make up for the poor start and spotty stands.

Other good news is that the average sugar content appears to be good, up around 16 percent, Mallard reported.

“Excellent,” is how Ontario area farmer Bruce Corn, described the crop. “Tonnage is good.”

Corn attributed the quality of the crop to the use of Round-up ready beets.

“It’s really made a difference,” he said.

The weed control is significantly better than before, he said, so there was less competition for the beets, and not only are growers getting better weed control, they are using fewer chemicals.

As to whether beet growers will be allowed to use Round-up ready beets in the future, after a recent federal court ruling ordering an environmental impact statement, Corn said he remains hopeful. There is not enough regular seed to plant next year, and chemical companies have stopped making some of the herbicides that growers used to control weeds in the past. Corn estimated the use of Round-up ready beets in the valley at 100 percent.

Another issue is the time it takes to get seed produced and made available.

“The beet seed for the 2011 crop has already been planted,” Corn said.