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Michigan sugarbeets losing yield

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Warmer temperatures are causing concern for sugarbeet farmers.

Ray VanDriessche with the Michigan Sugar Company tells Brownfield sugarbeets are still growing and starting to lose yield because of the recent warmer weather.  “Because those beets are still in a growth mode, we’re seeing lower sugar contents than we’ve seen in a lot of years and a lower sugar content means less sugar packed and less return back to the growers.”   He says production this year is forecast at 30 tons per acre, slightly lower than last year’s record, and will help make up for lost sugar content.

VanDriessche says opening piling of sugarbeets will start on October 24th with harvest expected to run through November.  “Some of those beets will have to sit there until the last beet is sliced which is going to be about the third week of March, in that area in general, and some years we’ve run longer.”

The Michigan Sugar Company is the nation’s third largest beet sugar processor with facilities in Michigan’s Great Lakes Bay and Thumb Regions, northeast Ohio and Canada.

VanDriessche spoke with Brownfield as part of a visit to the company’s Bay City processing plant.

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