Sidney Sugars Honors Top 10 Growers of 2012

Sidney Sugars Incorporated held its Top Ten Growers award luncheon last Wednesday, Jan. 16. The luncheon is held annually in order to congratulate the growers that brought in the best crop. Despite it being a rather dry growing season, this year’s harvest was a success.

Although planting doesn’t usually happen until about the third week of April, a lot of the growers chose to plant earlier. Due to the dry conditions, those seeds did not germinate and start growing until they received moisture. It was a difficult time with no rain, causing it to be very dry. Most farmers had to irrigate their fields, which made yields surprisingly good. Not all fields made out well though, as some fields did not get good stands because of the weather. Russ Fullmer, agriculture manager at Sidney Sugars, stated, “The season went better than expected.”

Fullmer stated that the harvest went well also, despite some frost and rain. With 33,337 acres contracted this year, growers harvested 32,918 acres of it with a decent amount of beets brought in. “I was surprised at what the tonnages were,” stated Fullmer. This year’s tonnage averaged at 27.8 tons per acre and average sugar was 17.99%.

With the winter, brings production. Sidney Sugars is currently working on getting all beets hauled in to the factory for processing. The 3 pile sites furthest out, Pleasantview, Culbertson, and Powder River have completed transport. This leaves the ventilated piles in Savage and Sugar Valley (Fairview) left to be brought in to the factory for processing. Fullmer stated that the piles stored well, as the temperatures were pretty good this year. If the temperature stays in a steady range, there is no worry about them thawing and re-freezing. Fullmer figures they will have everything hauled to the factory within a month.

When figuring out who brought in the best crop, Fullmer says, “It’s very interesting to look at.” With about 128 growers contracting with Sidney Sugars, there are a lot of possibilities. The top growers this year include a few of the regulars that have won before with quite a few new ones, which Fullmer stated, “Is nice to see.”

As for next year, Fullmer is anticipating about the same turnout next year, depending on the weather of course. Although the oil has impacted the acreage, it’s looking about the same.

 

Reader Comments(0)