Source: Post Register
The outlook for the sugarbeet harvest in the Upper Snake River Valley that recently got started is better than last year, according to sugar company officials.
“The early harvest is showing positive results with an average of 17.4 percent sugar content and an estimated 39 tons plus per acre production,” said Pat Laubacher, Amalgamated Sugar Co. vice president of agriculture.
“Early harvest in the Upper Snake River and Magic Valley began Sept. 4,” Jessica McAnally, Amalgamated Sugar communications specialist, said last week.
McAnally said the full companywide harvest began Saturday. The 2016 crop was considered exceptional, she said. “We broke company records on both yield and sugar content.”
The 2017 crop wasn’t quite up to 2016, but it was still a good year, she said.
“We were able to process all the crop,” she said. “Amalgamated Sugar’s 2017 sugar beet crop averaged 39.2 tons per acre and 16.84 percent beet quality lab sugar content. This year, there was limited replant companywide,” she said. “So things are looking good.”
Amalgamated Sugar was formed in 1902 with the merging of the Ogden Sugar Co., the Logan Sugar Co., and the Oregon Sugar Co. It is the second-largest United States sugarbeet processor behind the Minnesota-based American Crystal Sugar.
In 1997 the farmer cooperative, Snake River Sugar Co., purchased control of Amalgamated. More than 750 growers produce sugar beets on approximately 180,000 acres in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Amalgamated Sugar processing plants are located in Nampa, Paul and Twins Falls. A brown-sugar plant is in Nyssa, Ore.
The Liberty sugarbeet receiving station, near Rockford, opened in 1997. Today, five pilers are in operation at Liberty with neighboring piling grounds in Blackfoot and Springfield. With the sugarbeet harvest now going full bore, growers are eager to get the job done.
“It will be good to get our beets out of the field,” said Bob Olsen, of Rich Lane Farms.