Sugar Beet Harvest Underway

Eastern Montana’s sugar beet harvest features great sugar content and excellent weather this year.

Overall, Sidney Sugars’ agricultural manager Duane Peters reports that the sugar content percentage is 18.9 percent. Normally, the mark is about 17 percent.

“It’s almost two full points higher,” Peters said of the sugar content. “We’re very happy with it.”

Tonnage is down as the average is 29 tons per acre. Officials were hoping for tonnage to be closer to 31.

“The sugar content will help ease some of that for us,” Peters said.

He noted that harvest was about 50 percent completed as of Monday. If there aren’t any weather delays, harvest should be about 90 percent done during this weekend.

“Usually, by now, we’re only about 30 percent done,” Peters said. “It’s been a dry year.”

The Culbertson area features a sugar content of a remarkable 19.3 percent. “It’s very, very good sugar up there,” Peters said.

Tonnage in the Culbertson area is an average of only 27 tons per acre.

Peters noted that the Culbertson receiving station is ahead of the area’s other receiving stations. Culbertson was about 60-65 percent done as of Monday, Oct. 12, and could be completely finished by this weekend.