There is nothing but good news these days for southern Alberta sugar beet growers.
From the timing of harvest completion, the operation of the sugar factory to the quality and tonnage of this year’s crop, 2011 is looking to be a banner year.
Andrew Llewelyn-Jones of Lantic Sugar in Taber said for starters, harvest wrapped up right on time.
“We were done last night,” he said in a Friday-morning interview, as he made reference to the Thursday-night harvest completion. “We got done last night in the nick of time, right before the snow came in.”
He added that completion date is on par with what the sugar company typically expects.
“Nov. 3 is fairly average. That’s right on when we normally get done. We usually wrap everything up either the last week of August or the first week of November.”
There are exceptions, however, as 2009 proved, when the last beets finally came to the factory in mid-December, which concluded one of the most troublesome sugar beet campaigns in modern history for local growers.
“That was the year where we had 6,000 acres frozen in the ground,” said Llewelyn-Jones. “Those are some of the things that can happen from one year to the next.”
Early this season, it looked as if that would be the case for the 2011 crop, as a cool and wet spring made many crops go in late. Some beets that did get in the ground early were drowned out, as the growing season got off to a tough start.
However, that early moisture helped beet growers turn the season from a nightmare to a dream.
“Those first few weeks of May, when the rain let up, a lot of the beets finally went in the ground,” he said, and added that moisture level in the soil helped produce some of the best beet stands he has even witnessed.
But is was not until the summer when growers and company officials began to regain some optimism.
“On July 1, we thought it was going to be another below-average year.”
July, August and September, however, turned out to be warm, and even solid October temperatures helped growers pull off what seemed impossible at the start of the season — a record crop.
“The tonnage is at an average of 23.5, and that’s above the long-term average,” said Llewelyn-Jones. “The sugar content at 19.35 per cent is our best ever.”
The previous high of just over 19 per cent was experienced back in the early 2000s, he added, as 2011 is set to go down in the history books. That sugar content is also leading to records being set inside the factory.
“We are producing a lot of sugar in the plant right now, and we’ve had some days where we’ve been at or near record production.”
Harvest conditions have also helped the situation, as Llewelyn-Jones added the wrap up of field work, just before cold weekend temperatures hit, was perfect timing.
“We had a few cold mornings where there was some concern, but the beets came into storage in good condition.”
That is key, since when it does turn cold for extended periods of time, beets on the outside of piles throughout the region will freeze, while beets in the interior will not.
“Beets for two to three feet on the outside of the pile will freeze,” said Llewelyn-Jones, who added it is important not to put frozen beets from the field into the piles.
Beets that come into storage frozen will deteriorate quickly in the middle of the pile, and basically turn to mush.
“If they go in with no frost damage, they will generally store very well.”
The fact harvest went off without a hitch was certainly key, as the fall produced ideal conditions.
“The beets will put on a lot of weight on if the summer is extended to September and October,” said Llewelyn-Jones.
Speaking of ideal conditions, he added should the factory continue to run smooth throughout the processing campaign, things should wrap up right on schedule.
“We should finish in mid-January to the end of January, somewhere in there, depending on how the winter goes.”
In all, 785,000 tonnes of sugar beets will be processed this year.