Most — but not all — sugarbeet processors conduct an early harvest (prepile) campaign to get their factories up and rolling prior to the initiation of the main harvest season. 
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Photo: Don Lilleboe
Left: Breidenbach Brothers partners include, left to right: Luke, Dave, Jack and Steve.  Steve is the father of Dave and Jack; Luke is Dave’s son.  Dave’s other son, Don, also is a partner in the longtime family farm, based near Iliff, Colo.

    The Breidenbach sugarbeet legacy in northeastern Colorado goes back a long way — all the way, in fact, to 1905 when Frank Breidenbach began growing the crop for the new beet factory at Sterling.  
    So much has changed since then, of course.  But the Breidenbach farming enterprise — now comprised of one of Frank’s grandsons, two great-grandsons and two great-great-grandsons — has continued producing sugarbeets and evolving with the times.  Today, the family operation includes Stephen, his sons Dave and Jack, along with Dave’s sons, Don and Luke.  Together, they farm 5,000 acres of Logan County ground, including 1,100 acres of sugarbeets, another 2,500 of corn and 1,400 in alfalfa.  Ninety percent of their acreage is under center-pivot irrigation systems that utilize ditch and reservoir water.
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Roggenbuck Harvester - Sugarbeet Grower Magazine
One of two Ropa 'Tiger' harvesters owned by the Roggenbucks. Photo: Don Lilleboe
     Were it not for the American-made semis rumbling to and from field perimeters, visitors to Helena Valley Farms during the sugarbeet harvest season could be excused for wondering if they weren’t actually somewhere in Europe rather than the Thumb region of eastern Michigan.  Two huge Ropa “Tiger” self-propelled harvesters move up and down the field, each dumping its topped and lifted beets into a 34-ton-capacity “Big Bear” track cart.  The cart in turn unloads its contents on field headlands, where the beets sit for at least a couple days before being run through a self-propelled “Maus” — another Ropa-built unit that cleans and loads the piled beets into trucks for the trip to the factory.
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     The only parts of North Dakota where you’ll find commercial sugarbeet fields are in the Red River Valley along the state’s eastern edge and in the Mon-Dak vicinity of northwestern North Dakota.  The crop has never been grown commercially anywhere else in the Peace Garden State.
    But there’s a good chance it will be, one day soon.
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     Along with North Dakota, energy beets also are receiving close attention in several other states — and especially in the Central Valley of California.  There, the research and development catalyst has been Mendota Bioenergy LLC, a group comprised of former Spreckels Sugar Company growers from Fresno County.  Also working on the project are various university water/energy/ biomass specialists and several companies with experience in biofuels engineering and development.
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     When a commercial energy beet industry does takes root and grow in North Dakota, it will do so in areas outside the traditional beet belt. Beets for biofuel will be grown in locales where farmers have a long history of wheat, barley and sunflower production, not sugarbeets. 
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Clint Hagen (left) and Michigan Sugar Co. agriculturist Matt Booms. Photo: Don Lilleboe
    In a successful sugarbeet operation, every phase of the production season is important — but none more so than a strong start and a strong finish. Brothers Clint and Brad Hagen know that as well as anyone else.  For the past decade-plus, the Hagens, who operate Atwater Farms near Ubly, Mich., have bolstered their season’s “start” by implementing a stale seedbed system.  More recently, they’ve bulked up the season’s “finish” by building huge beet carts used not only on their own farm, but also at nearby Michigan Sugar Company piling sites.
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    Within the Western Sugar Cooperative growing region**, surface water supplies for irrigation are limited whenever drought occurs.  As a result, delivery of surface water may (1) be delayed at the beginning of the season, (2) restricted during the season, and/or (3) shut off before the irrigation season is over.  Since adequate water may not be available to meet the crop’s total needs, surface water users thus have a difficult decision to make in selecting which crop(s) to irrigate.
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2011 Sugarbeet Institute - Sugarbeet Grower Magazine
ISBI / Fargo / 2011 - By Don Lilleboe
    The 49th International Sugarbeet Institute, held March 16 and 17 at the Fargodome in Fargo, N.D., attracted an estimated crowd of more than 3,200 during its two-day run.  That was up by about 500 from the 2010 attendance.
    A total of 126 companies exhibited at the 2011 ISBI. Eighty-five were booth exhibitors and 41 were floor exhibitors.  As always, a broad spectrum of sugarbeet-related products and services were on display — everything from seed and chemical to tractors and harvesters, from site-specific system providers to field drainage companies.
    Luther Markwart, executive vice president of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association, was this year’s featured speaker.  He drew large crowds both days for his presentation, which covered the current status of Roundup Ready sugarbeet litigation, crop insurance developments, trade policy and the next farm bill.
    The 22-person committee that plans and hosts the annual ISBI is comprised of individuals from several segments of the Minnesota/North Dakota beet industry.  There are grower and staff personnel from each of the region’s three sugar co-ops, university sugarbeet specialists, grower association staff, and representatives from the booth and floor exhibitor communities.  Mohamed Khan, sugarbeet specialist with North Dakota State University and the University of Minnesota, is committee chairman. Crookston, Minn., grower Bob Cournia is exhibits coordinator
    The 50th International Sugarbeet Institute will be held on March 14 and 15, 2012, at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, N.D.              
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    Rhizoctonia root rot is a serious disease problem in several sugarbeet-growing regions, with the result sometimes being dramatic — and expensive — reductions in tonnage and quality.  Low levels of infection can easily cause yield losses in excess of a ton per acre, while high infection levels can cut yields by more than 10 tons per acre.  The quality of surviving beets can also be impacted, sometimes resulting in significant losses in recoverable sugar.
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