Where are the crisp fall temperatures?

Sugar beet harvest in the Lovell Factory District of the Great Western Sugar Cooperative has turned into a test of careful pile management at beet receiving stations under continuing daytime temperatures of 70-80 degrees.

Only about 30% of the crop was received during the first week.

“Good pile storage makes for good grower payments. It’s all about risk,” said Ric Rodriguez, Heart Mountain grower and member of the four-state cooperative board.

The all-out regular harvest was supposed to have started on Oct. 6, but because of the high daytime temperatures, an early harvest schedule was implemented again. Each contracted grower was given an allotment of 1.25 tons per acre for deliveries to open pile grounds on a rotating basis.

That schedule prevailed until Friday, Oct. 11 when the weather forecast allowed for a limited regular harvest to proceed. That allows growers to deliver as much as they can harvest until stopped for the day.

Pile grounds open at 6 a.m. The receiving stations were able to operate until about 11 a.m. into the weekend “and actually made it to 1 p.m. on Sunday,” he said.

“The beets won’t store if they are put into piles hot,” Rodriguez said. “We have a heat policy that once the beets reach 50 degrees, piling will be halted. The beets are going into the piles cool at this time.”

The other issue is the piled beets sitting through 70-80 degree temperatures for extended periods of time, Rodriguez said.

“The forecast looks cooler later this week so we should get going full blast by then,” Rodriguez added.

Sugar content of early beets is averaging 17.83% with average tonnage suggesting a crop around 30 tons to the acre.