Growing sugarbeets and myriad other crops is more than a profession for Idaho grower Paul Rasgorshek.
“I love farming,” he said. “It’s what I always wanted to do from the get-go. I enjoyed working with my dad. It’s my passion. It’s my hobby.”
Paul’s dad, Joe, now retired, moved to Idaho from Western Nebraska in 1965, and started growing beets west of Nampa.
Paul, 54, began growing beets on his own nearby in 1982.
But when Treasure Valley in southwestern Idaho began getting more populated, Paul chose to find land elsewhere.
“We moved our farming operation from west of Nampa to south of Nampa in 2004,” he said. “We made the move after being encroached upon by the growth of the valley.”
Rasgorshek Farms is located in the Dry Lake Area near the Snake River.
Crop Diversity
“We have a row crop farming operation that consists of about 1,200 acres and a custom farming operation that consists of 3,800 acres,” Paul said. Row crops include beets, alfalfa seed, mint, onion seed, carrot seed and silage corn. Beets occupy 175 acres, while the alfalfa seed is the largest crop. He also produces silage corn and hay for two local dairies.
“I have considered growing more beets but because of the circumstances this is probably the most I can have,” he said. “The dairy ground is pretty much tied up with feed crops.”
Last season’s beet harvest delivered 16.9 percent sugar content and 51 tons per acre. Paul said the sugar content is close to the same as in recent years, while the tonnage is up a couple tons.
His beets go to the Bowmont Receiving Station about 12 miles away before being delivered to the Amalgamated Sugar Factory in Nampa.
Paul is a member of the Nyssa-Nampa Sugarbeet Growers Association. He’s nearing nine years of service on the Snake River Co-op Board of Directors.
Rasgorshek Farms has 16 fulltime employees, some of whom have worked there since the late 1980s.
Paul’s wife, Marilyn, assists as a bookkeeper.
“She helps with decisions,” Paul said. “She is a big part of it.”
They raised two sons, Jay, 25, and Kyle, 21.
“Both of them have pursued other interests,” Paul said. “They don’t have interest in coming back to the farm.”
That leaves the future of the farm in some doubt.
“You just never know what’s going to happen,” Paul said. “We’ll cross that bridge when that time comes. Whether we rent the land or help somebody, we’ll see what that is down the road.”
Rotation Matters
“This is some very old beet ground,” Paul said. “I don’t have a lot of acres I can put beets on. A lot of it is because of rotation. It seems to make a difference because of the rhizomania that was here prior, along with the nematodes. Having a five- to seven- year rotation is very beneficial for us to get a good crop. Rotations are very important for beets and all the other crops.”
His diverse rotation of crops helps keep weed resistance from becoming a problem. Sugarbeets usually follow alfalfa seed in the rotation. He also uses an Eptam-Treflan treatment, harrowed in, for weed control along with the Roundup.
Nematodes are a different story. Paul calls them his biggest challenge.
“The nematode-tolerant beet seed varieties have been helpful,” Paul said. Those varieties, coupled with his long rotation between beet crops, have kept the nematodes at bay.
“We used to do a lot of fumigating with Telone,” he said. “Right now the nematode-resistant seed is the way we’re going. And it seems to help.”
He seldom applies nitrogen for the beets since mint and other row crops keep the soil high in nitrogen.
“We do 1-foot soil tests in the fall and 3-foot tests in the spring for nitrogen,” Paul said. They usually also confirm the lack of need for applied phosphorous and potassium.
Most of Rasgorshek’s row-crop irrigation is by furrow and wheel lines.
“Our irrigation is water lifted from the Snake River, about 600 feet, and wells about 700 feet deep,” Paul said. Wells deliver about 25 percent of the water.
Helping Hand
Paul feels it important to aid beet research.
“I really enjoy the research,” he said. “I enjoy learning maybe new ways of doing things. Amalgamated has a phenomenal research program. The research is very important for our industry and company to survive.”
Amalgamated has established research plots on his farm for more than eight years, generating studies on a variety of production issues.
Aside from seeing the results first hand, it also benefits other growers.
“It’s supplying information for the growers of Amalgamated,” Paul said. “It’s on-farm research done on what I believe is a good operation. It’s good information for the members of the co-op.”