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Michigan starts early sugarbeet harvest

Early season sugarbeet harvest for Michigan Sugar Company growers started this week.

Agronomist David Pratt tells Brownfield dry conditions for most of the growing season were a concern, but recent rain has turned things around.   “An unusual event where you get four to seven inches of rain over about a four or five day period in August, which is really unusual, so that’s really going to help the crop.”  He says, “Sugarbeets really like water and they’ll soak up everything they can get.”

Pratt says the majority of harvest takes place during October and most beets will be stored in piles, which are about the size of a football field and 18 feet tall. He says the processing campaign runs through early next year.  “With these warm temperatures, if they sit more than a couple of days in a pile they start spoiling.”

Pratt says he expects yields to be similar to last year’s record of just over 33 tons per acre.

AUDIO: Interview with David Pratt