FORT MORGAN, Colo.—It looks to be a good year for sugarbeets.
At least that's what the agriculturist and factory manager at Western Sugar Cooperative's Fort Morgan factory are saying.
"Right now, we're predicting a little over a 32-ton-per-acre crop," Agriculturist Stewart Norrish said, adding that for many years, the average had been closer to 30.5 tons per acre.
The percentage of sugar in those beets also is expected to be "a little above normal," Norrish said.
He attributed this to a longer growing season.
"It's the weather," Factory Manager Don Gorsek agreed. "Last year, we had flooding," but this year the beets were able to keep growing.
Norrish pointed out that there was some hail this growing season, but it came late, which meant less damage to the plants' leaves. That's where the sugar is produced, he added.
"It stops the growth if you have to regrow the leaves," Gorsek said, with the plants essentially having to "start over."
Balancing act
Western Sugar is "responsible for the production of sugarbeets" grown under contract by northeast Colorado farmers, according to Norrish.
The farmers then take their crop to the factory's 14 receiving sites, and from there contractor Aulick Leasing's drivers rehaul the beets to Western Sugar.
"We expect to receive about a million tons this harvest," Norrish said.
The beets being harvested now were planted in late March and early April, and it's normal for them to get harvested from late September into October, he said.
The pre-harvest began Oct. 9, and the regular harvest started around Oct. 19, he said.
"We try to get done within the first week of November," the agriculturist said. "We try to harvest a great amount of beets in a short amount of time. We want to get them all out before it's a hard freeze."
But the temperature also is something that has to be factored into the storage of the beets until they get processed, Gorsek said.
"We bring the beets in, and then we want it to stay cold to preserve the beets," which are stored in outdoor piles, he said.
The concern is that if it gets warmer, the beets can start growing again in the piles.
Yet, the piles are still the most efficient storage option, both for space and temperature control, as it usually is cooler in the late fall and heading into winter.
Trucks to piles
While continually adding to and taking away from big piles of sugarbeets may not seem to be the most organized process, Western Sugar's process is well-established and does allow for pretty tight accounting for all the beets.
When the Aulick Leasing rehaul drivers bring a load of beets to the factory, they check in the load using contract cards.
The scale operator also may issue the driver a tube for the random sampling the factory does to test the beets.
The weight of the load gets measured multiple times, with an "in weight" first.
Next the beets need to go "over the piler," which separates out the dirt. The weight gets measured again without the discarded dirt, which is the "tare weight."
If a driver received a sample tube at the scale check in, when he reaches the piler, he gives it to the tare house, and then proceeds to unload the beets into the piler.
After this, the truck gets weighed again—the "out weight."
ll of these weight measurements are then used to figure the load's net weight, which is what the factory uses to account for the contracted crop, Norrish explained.
The factory takes in between 180 and 200 loads of beets per day, he said.
And those loads are part of what is looking to be a bumper crop, according to the factory manager.
"At this time, the factory is seeing the best quality beets in the last 10 years," Gorsek said. "We're producing the lowest-color sugar in 15-20 years."
Source: www.fortmorgantimes.com