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“Sugarbeet Report” presented by NDSU Extension, features growing tips from NDSU sugar beet specialists and researchers.
This is the Sugar Beet Report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugar beet growing season. Joining us today is Steve Rousanu, vice president of agriculture for American Crystal Sugarbeet Company. Steve will give us a recap of this year's sugar beet crop, including drought impact and projections. Steve, how is prepile going? Prepile is going well.
Steve Rosenau:It's on schedule. By schedule, I mean, schedule is good on the first day, and then the rest of prepile would need to react to weather. We started on August 14, and we're working through the various stations to keep the factories supplied with beets. And we're seeing variety as we move through the various stations based upon the conditions that the crops in those areas experience throughout the growing period. And so areas where it's dry, we've seen smaller yields and higher sugar content. Areas where they received some moisture, we see some bigger yields and and lower sugar content. What we'd expect.
Bruce Sundeen:How did things get started this spring?
Steve Rosenau:Sitting back early April, we thought, boy, spring was gonna come early, and then it just kinda lingered around with regards to lower temperatures and fields weren't drying out. As we fast forward to the end of April, all of a sudden, the switch flipped, and April 21 is when we saw the first fields in the valley start to get planted. And things progressed quickly until the second week in May. And if you remember, we had those three days of high winds, you know, up and down the valley that resulted in tens of thousands of acres having to get replanted. So overall, when you factor the earlier start on the twenty first and then the mid May wind events, we ended up having an average planting date.
Bruce Sundeen:How has the drought impacted the crop?
Steve Rosenau:The whole valley has been dry compared to normal precipitation. More so as the Crookston District, as you move down into the Minnesota side of our Hillsborough District, the Midway, the 80 Wests, and then as you transition South Of Hillsborough Highway 200 And South, that area was extremely dry. Moving into Moorhead, Felton Pearly, so the northern portion in Minnesota of the Moorhead District, they also are really dry. Moving up into the Drayton and East Grand Forks districts, things look typical. We received rain, Yields are in expected normal ranges. Sugar contents is where we'd expect them this time of year. And so there really is a tale of two crops, whether you got timely rain or you didn't.
Bruce Sundeen:How has the drought affected disease, weeds, and insects?
Steve Rosenau:The last several years with the moisture, we had high cercospora pressure. This year with the drought, we aren't seeing the same pressure. We still have pressure because if you go out in the field in the morning, you'll find dew, and that's all that fungus is looking moisture to go ahead and propagate. And certainly, that was available even in dry areas this year. And the shareholders, you know, American Crystal have done a fantastic job staying on top of spraying, controlling it. And so the drought and then staying timely, not only early but timely with application, cercospora pressure is lower this year, positive. However, when you have a drought and you've got that canopy as the first thing to get impacted, now all of a sudden, weeds have the ability. They don't have that pressure from the beet canopy to suppress them, and so weed pressure, that becomes the new issue in dealing with those. In terms of insects, typically, drier conditions lead to lower insect pressure. We still, in those hot areas for Sugarbeet root maggot, you know, up in the Saint Thomas area, we still did have pressure with regards to that insect, but controllable. Shareholders use the tools that they've got available to them in that area, and then the drought assisted with controlling those populations.
Bruce Sundeen:Steve, what's your harvest projection?
Steve Rosenau:You know, as we look at past crops and we look at our history over the last twenty years, sitting back last spring, I was projecting with an average planting date. And if we had average weather throughout the summer, that crop would be somewhere around 32 tons per acre. Certainly, with the dry conditions that we've got, we're not gonna see 32 tons per acre as an average. Now we will have fields that will do 32 tons per acre or better, but overall, we're not gonna see that average. Once again, it depends upon what are the temperatures next week. If they're warmer, then we'll have prolonged growth. If they're the historical temperatures, we'll have less growth, but more sugar accumulation. Somewhere either a little shy of or a little north of 28 tons per acre. So that puts us around just shy of 11,000,000 tons in terms of total crop size.
Bruce Sundeen:Thanks, Steve. Our guest has been Steve Rousanu, vice president of agriculture for American Crystal Sugarbeet Company. This has been the Sugarbeet Report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugar beet growing season.