POWELL, Wyo.—Forget about the soggy start. The story of the 2016 area sugarbeet harvest is the soaring finish.
With 73 percent of the crop delivered as of Monday, growers in Western Sugar Cooperative’s Lovell Factory District are on track to post the first-ever average yield over 30 tons to the acre.
Rain and snow in the first few days of October cost growers almost a week to muddy fields. But when the fields dried, digging resumed, and beets literally flew out of the ground.
Meanwhile, piles at receiving stations around the district grew and grew. With the harvest complete on nearly three-quarters of the district’s 16,200 acres, grower yields have averaged a whopping 31.4 tons to the acre. That’s two and a half tons to the acre higher than forecast by late summer sampling.
At the same time, sugar content at 17.08 percent is running a little lower than the projected 17.5 percent.
Source: www.powelltribune.com