MONITOR TOWNSHIP, MI—Beets are rolling into Michigan Sugar Co.'s processing plants as early as ever this year, as officials prepare for what could be another record-breaking crop.
Paul Pfenninger, vice president of agriculture for the Monitor Township-based company, said harvest began Thursday, Aug. 20. Early delivery and slicing at its production facilities began soon after.
"It matched our earliest ever crop year of 2012," he said.
Last year, early delivery began Sept. 4.
Pfenninger said this year's sugar beet crop could break last year's record.
"Our average last year was 29.6 tons per acre, and we think we're going to be better than that this year," he said. "Therefore, we started earlier to get all the beets sliced in a reasonable timespan."
Pfenninger said this year's average yield could be 31 tons per acre.
"It's pretty exciting. Talk about a big crop."
Michigan Sugar, a grower-owned cooperative, produces about 1 billion pounds of sugar annually and sells under the Pioneer Sugar and Big Chief Sugar brands.
The company has approximately 1,000 grower-owners who plant about 160,000 acres of beets annually in 19 Michigan counties and Ontario. Aside from its headquarters at 2600 S. Euclid Ave., the company has processing facilities in Caro, Croswell and Sebewaing.
The company has plans to move its corporate offices to a space at Uptown Bay City.
Terry Weiss, co-owner of Weiss Farms in Saginaw County's Kochville Township, is among the growers participating in limited, early delivery this year. Those growers receive a bit of a premium on their beets as a reward for pulling them out of the ground early. Early harvest generally means the beets are a bit smaller.
Regular delivery and permanent piling is to begin about Oct. 20.
Weiss, who has 42 years of beet-growing experience, has 315 acres of the crop. He also grows corn, dry beans, soybeans and wheat.
He said his sugarbeet crop is looking good.
"I would say it's comparable to last year, maybe a little better. Probably a little better," Weiss said.
Gordy Mammel, co-owner of Monitor Township's Mammel Farms, also is participating in early delivery. He has 118 acres of beets. In addition, he grows soybeans, corn and wheat.
Mammel, a beet farmer for about 47 years, said an early start helps guarantee the crop can be processed in a timely fashion.
"We got so many beets, and we gotta get them sliced," he said. "Get the factory going."
He said rain and a fairly early start to planting contributed to the size of this year's crop.
"Beets were good last year, too, and they're good this year," he said. "Probably better this year than last year."
Ray Van Driessche, director of community and government relations for Michigan Sugar, said there are about 161,000 acres of beets to harvest this year.
"With the high population of sugarbeets and the right rain, you have all the right factors that can make a very large crop," he said. "Growers are doing a very good job of production practices, you know spraying for diseases and addressing crop concerns very, very well."
He added, "You combine that with a high population count and rain, it's a good combination for a good yield—a very large yield."
In the fall, growers delivered more than 4.72 million tons of beets, up from more than 4.17 million tons in fall 2013. Pfenninger said in addition to the record-setting yield of 29.6 tons per acre, it was the second-largest crop ever received.
"It's second to crop year 2012 when we had 29.3 tons per acre and we had 4.75 million (tons)," he said.
Of the total received, Van Driessche said just under 4.2 million tons of beets were processed during the last campaign.
The difference in beets harvested and beets processed is known as "shrink," explained Pfenninger. Because beets are stored in piles, they lose some of their weight between harvest and slice. Some beets also spoil and must be thrown out. Last season, the company disposed of 15,000 tons of beets, Van Driessche said.
The other important number for the company is the average sugar content of the beets, which last season came in at 18.37 percent, up slightly from the 2013 total of 18.34 percent.
Pfenninger said the goal each year is to hit 19 percent sugar content, a challenging goal that has only been attained one time in the company's history.
"We call it 'The Road to 19,' " said Pfenninger. "We have a lot of growers who hit 19 and some get 20 and over, but as a total, we've only hit it one time."
Pfenninger said motorists likely are to begin noticing beet trucks on the roads, if they haven't already.
"We're trying to be very careful and trying to be proactive and get it done early," he said. "They'll see some truck traffic, and it will pick up as we get busier.
"We're doing our best to keep the roads safe."
Source: www.mlive.com