North dakota & Minnesota Sugar beet Update - RRFN.com

Beet Harvest Going Well — American Crystal general agronomist Tyler Grove says the cooperative has been working around the areas impacted by rains. "We're getting beets in anywhere we can.” Grove says the sugar content and yields have been good. “Sugar content is a little easier. Even with the rain, we’re pleased with how things are progressing. We are still in the 29.7 (ton) yielding range estimate.” 

A Slight Delay — Heavy rains last week shut down the sugarbeet harvest for a time in southwestern Minnesota. Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Co-op Vice President of Agriculture Todd Geselius says the co-op has enough beets on the ground to make it through early this week. “We’d like to avoid rain right now. We need to get harvest going, but we don’t have a lot of control over that, so we’ll deal with what we have to do deal with.”
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Rolling Forward With Beets — Sugarbeet harvest continues throughout the Red River Valley. East Grand Forks, Minnesota farmer Chris Adams battled some wet weather in the first couple days of the harvest, but is otherwise, going well. "Tonnages have stayed in the low-to-mid 30s, and sugar content has been averaging 18-to-18.5 percent. We were pushing 20-plus (percent) sugar, but the rain put a hault to that." Adams says the only concern he has right now is the at-risk acres. "They just cut it back from 14 percent to about eight percent, so that helped us move onto the next piece."

Muddy Fields, Decent Crops — Matejcek Custom Harvesting owner Mike Matejcek is harvesting sugarbeets near Wahpeton, North Dakota. “We’ve had up to five inches of rain in the last few weeks. It’s muddy, but we’re getting sugarbeets harvested. There will be at least a week left on the sugarbeets,” he says. “The soybeans look good with yields in the 50s. I think there’s a pretty good bean crop here.” Matejeck says in the corn looks decent and some farmers have been harvesting it wet. 

Could Be Better — Stephen, Minnesota farmer Betsy Jensen says unfortunately sugarbeet tonnage isn’t what they had hoped for, but sugar content is good. "Our sugarbeet cart is worth its weight in gold. It's helping us move through harvest pretty quickly. We're getting it done, but we are disappointed in the yields. The plus side is sugar has been high."  Jensen hopes to finish sugarbeet harvest early next week and will move on to soybeans and corn after that. "We have plenty of soybeans left to harvest, and of course a little bit of corn. Crops have certainly dried down fast, which was a result of the lack of moisture. The corn matured very quickly." 

Beets and Beans — Warren, Minnesota farmer Nathan Potucek is harvesting sugarbeets. Potucek says their tonnage is below what was forecast by American Crystal Sugar Company. "Now that we’re in heavier ground, it’s starting to pick up. The sugar is around 18 percent.” Potucek's early soybean results vary. “We’ve done a few soybeans. They’re coming around 40 (bushels per acre). That’s on the heavier clay soils. The corn looks good, but it will be a while; too wet.” 
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Source: Red River Farm Network