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Nightmare beet harvest in Red River Valley

A nightmare harvest has been made worse for sugarbeet growers forced to repay cooperatives for unharvested acres.

North Dakota farmer Carson Klosterman grows beets in the Red River Valley and says his co-op had to call off harvest because of the poor condition of the crop.

“A lot of people who aren’t familiar with the industry are seeing how the coops are charging the growers hundreds of dollars per unharvested acre, but at the end of the day the grower knows the risk and reward.”

In some cases, farmers are having to pay back their cooperative well over $300 per-acre.

“The factories have so much overhead, and they hide that in the tons they harvest. And if they don’t have all those tons to essentially spread their cost, there is are some implications there.”

Klosterman says cutting off the sugarbeet harvest with so many acres left is unprecedented in the Valley and he predicts it will have ramifications beyond this year.