Source: Sidney Herald
Although many areas were closed due to weather for three days last week, sugar beet harvest is ahead of schedule for Sidney Sugars.
Sidney Sugars’ agricultural manager Duane Peters said some areas were closed on Thursday through Saturday, but they kept busy because Pleasant View and Powder River were able to operate. “They didn’t get the moisture,” Peters noted.
Savage and Sugar Valley returned to activity on Sunday. Peters said the average sugar content average is at about 17 percent. The average tonnage is about 31.5 tons per acre.
“The tons are bouncing all over the place,” Peters said.
He noted that some farms are averaging 40 tons an acre.
“It’s few and far between,” Peters said. “But you’re seeing them up and down the district. There’s not a whole lot, but I think we have a field like that in every district.”
As of early Monday morning, 42 percent of harvest had been completed.
“It’s unheard of on Oct. 8, in Sidney,” Peters said of having 42 percent done. The goal is to have harvest completed by Oct. 25.