Source: Big Horn Radio Network
The sugarbeet harvest in the Big Horn Basin is nearing completion, with about 70 percent of the crop in hand on Friday. But it’s the quality–not just the quantity–that has Western Sugar Cooperative breathing a sigh of relief.
Western Sugar Cooperative senior agriculturist Mark Bjornestad says tonnage is going to be just under 29 per acre. Tonnage had been forecast to come in at a record 31 tons per acre in the Lovell factory district.
But Bjornestad says that the sugar content of the beets is looking to hit a record high at nearly 18 percent on average, with some growers reporting 20 percent sugar. He says that as a rule, each 1 percent of sugar content is worth 3 tons of yield. He adds that the high sugar content points to a very high-quality of crop, with low numbers of impurities.
Cold and snow slowed the harvest some last weekend, but growers resumed harvesting this week. The harvest in the Lovell district should be 90 percent done by week’s end.
