Source: Fort Morgan Times
Despite being one of the higher-profile corporations in the region, Western Sugar Cooperative is not immune to the wrath of Mother Nature.
With the tornadoes that tore through the area Sunday evening, Western Sugar growers experiences damages to approximately 2,100 acres of sugarbeet crops. According to Jerry Darnell, vice president of agriculture for the south region of Western Sugar, it accounted for roughly eight percent of the company's total crops.
"We have beets from Kirk and Greeley all the way to Holyoke," said Darnell. "So we'll definitely be okay."
Sugarbeets are root crops, so the majority of the damage accorded when the wind and severe hail takes the canopy off the sugarbeet plants. According to Darnell, many of the sugarbeet plants are able to continue growing after the canopy is stripped, but produce less sugar as a result.
"The positive with sugar beets is that they can survive damage and still produce a crop," Darnell said. "They just produce less sugar per acre."
Western Sugar will deal with a slight hindrance from the damages, but are still confident that they'll be able to meet their projected predictions, which clock in at 36.3 tons of sugar per acre—a record campaign for the company.
Darnell and other agriculture staff will be conducting more testing next week on crops throughout the state of Colorado to further assess the growth of the sugar beet crops and how the tornadoes affected them.
Unfortunately for the growers, there's very little that can be done once a crop is damaged. According to Darnell, they can purchase multi-peril crop insurance and hope for better conditions in the next season. Insurance plans for Western Sugar grows are sorted out through their independent crop insurance agents.
Beyond the obvious devastation that the storm caused, the management team at Western Sugar is also hoping for the rest of the season to run smoothly.
"The farming industry is down already and we certainly don't need more to hurt them," said Darnell. "We don't need for more tough times in agriculture right now."