.Damage assessments won’t be known for some hours but the second straight night of below-freezing temperatures will take a heavy toll on Idaho sugarbeets.
John Schoor, district ag manager at the Mini-Cassia factory at Paul, ID, confirmed that temperatures fell to 28 degrees F this morning at Burley.
He says fieldmen are still trying to get a handle on the situation in his district. While beets could survive 28 degrees F in the two-to-four-leaf stage, just-emerging beets in the upper reaches of the district probably could not.
Already growers have had to replant over 7,000 acres and the number will invariably climb higher. Last year company-wide over 13,000 acres needed replanting.
The Aberdeen and American Falls areas have been the most severely impacted, by not only freezing temperatures but wind as well.
Most of the setbacks are expected in the receiving station areas of Liberty, Fingal, Arbon Valley, American Falls, Aberdeen, and South and North Pleasant Valleys near Aberdeen.