Record-high sugarbeet yields this year in Colorado don't mean record-high profits for growers after sugar prices fell sharply during the past year amid an oversaturated market.
Yields have yet to recover. Jerry Darnell, agricultural manager for the Denver-based Western Sugar Cooperative, which works with farmers in Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana, said Colorado's average yield for sugarbeets this year was 33.5 tons per acre, easily surpassing the state's record of 31.8, set last year. Sugar content, though, was below average at 14.9 percent, likely due to the overabundance of moisture in September and October.
Source: www.greeleytribune.com