Barney, N.D., grower Russ Mauch completed his two-year term as president of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association during the group’s February annual meeting.  Prior to turning over the president’s gavel to Kelly Erickson, Mauch summarized the challenges and accomplishments of the past two years.  Provided here are excerpts from his talk.
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    Hallock, Minn., grower Kelly Erickson took the reins as president of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association during ASGA’s annual meeting in early February.  In his first address to the group as president, he introduced himself, discussed the challenges ahead, and offered a road map on how ASGA can successfully meet those challenges.  Here are his remarks.
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Satisfactory Crop Residue Management Is a Key for the Carlquists of Southern Idaho

By Don Lilleboe

    Doug and Melanie Carlquist were among a sizable contingent of Idaho sugarbeet producers who attended a strip-till seminar and field demonstration hosted by Amalgamated Sugar Company back in the summer of 2008.  And, like a number of those attending, they were impressed enough with the perceived benefits of the production system that they purchased a new strip-till unit for deployment in their upcoming row crop fields.
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By Mark Bredehoeft*

    Application of an in-furrow 10-34-0 starter fertilizer at planting is generally considered to be a paying proposition in the Red River Valley and southern Minnesota sugarbeet areas.  Often-cited benefits include increased early season vigor, improved crop stress tolerance, a typical boost in final recoverable sugar per acre, and optimal use of applied phosphorus inputs.
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          Cover Crop & Strip Till Among Key Elements in Producing 47-Ton Beets Following Potatoes on Sandy Soils

     Jason Meyers is old enough to have gone through some tough years, young enough to still be hungry for new challenges — and good enough to rank among the top growers of Amalgamated Sugar Company.  And he does it all by operating in two locales far enough apart that he travels between them by airplane.
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Southern Minn Co-op Develops Model to Assist Nitrogen Management & Boost Profitability

By Chris Dunsmore, Jody Steffel & Mark Bredehoeft*

    Can the level of organic matter (OM) influence sugar percent and purity in one’s sugarbeet crop?  And, assuming it can, how might organic matter zones be mapped in order to allow growers to appropriately modify nitrogen application rates to take advantage of this relationship?
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Idaho USDA-ARS Research Aids in Work to Rein in Rhizomania, Curly Top

By Ann Perry*

    The whole point of growing sugarbeets is to produce sugar.  But once the beets are harvested and stored for processing, they slowly start to decay, which lowers their sucrose levels.
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Red River Valley Research Evaluates Impact Eight Years After Lime Application

By Carol Windels, Jason Brantner, Albert Sims & Carl Bradley*

The spreading of spent lime on sugarbeet fields around Minnesota and eastern North Dakota has increased significantly in recent years — with a primary motivation, in many instances, being to help manage Aphanomyces root rot.


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Sugarbeet Grower / Don Lilleboe
     These pages contain our 25th annual sugarbeet crop summary.  All current North American sugarbeet production regions are represented in the reports included here.
     The Sugarbeet Grower wishes to extend our sincere thanks to those individuals listed who submitted the report for their company.

Amalgamated Sugar Company

    Crop year 2011 started with a cool, wet spring.  Many growers were unable to get into their fields until late April.  There were some late frosts and severe weather conditions; but there were fewer replants, with 13,285 acres beets having to be replanted as compared with almost 53,000 acres of replants in 2010.  Even with a late- planted crop, stands were excellent. 
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Three years of research into growing sugarbeets without irrigation in western Nebraska yielded some intriguing results.  But University of Nebraska researchers are not ready to recommend beets as a dryland crop for their region.
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