It’s a familiar refrain: Area sugar beet growers are primed to harvest an above average crop if the weather cooperates.

This year there’s a different wrinkle to the picture: Early fall temperatures may be a little too nice.

The contrast is sharp to the deep freeze that blasted Western Sugar Cooperative’s Lovell Factory District last October and eventually locked 5,000 acres of unharvested sugar beets in the ground.

Western Sugar’s all-out harvest of about 14,500 acres in the Lovell district was scheduled to start today (Tuesday), but the forecast of warm temperatures has already forced some changes in the schedule. Through the week, highs are forecasted in the 70s and 80s.

“You can’t pile beets for long periods of time in warm temperatures,” said Ric Rodriguez, Western Sugar board member and a Heart Mountain grower. “We may start as planned on Tuesday, but if the temperature gets up above 50 degrees, we may have to shut off. We might dig some half days or short days; it all depends.”

With unseasonably warm temperatures, Western Sugar officials are considering a return to the early dig rotation of operating selected beet receiving stations, rather than beginning wide-open piling at all stations across the district. In addition, sugar beets from the Bridger, Montana, area have been added to the mix and were scheduled to begin deliveries to the Lovell factory Monday.

Until conditions warrant, the rough rule of thumb is to store only enough beets in piles to run the factory for three days.

Clearly, Rodriguez and area growers are anxious to get the crop out of the ground. The long range forecast for harvest weather “looks real good,” Rodriguez added.

“We’re on the verge of a really good year,” he said. “If the temperature is 50 or below, we’ll be going seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. All pilers will be open as long as the temperatures are cool.”

Reflecting back to the devastation of frozen beets a year ago, he suggested it’s time growers caught a break.

“All we’ve had in the last few years is bad luck,” Rodriguez noted. “Maybe it’s time for some good luck for growers.”

The sugar company’s early dig, which began Sept. 8, produced encouraging results — enough so that it appears that the crop will surpass the projections of field sampling. The crop has continued to come on since sample tests projected an average yield of 28.6 tons to the acre with sugar content of 17%.

“We’re going to have way better sugar content than 17%, and I think we’re going to do better than the 28.6 tons to the acre that was projected,” Rodriguez said.

As a revealing measure of yield, the grower tonnage quotas during the early dig were realized from less than anticipated harvested ares.

“As a result, we have more acres still to harvest, and that’s a good thing,” Rodriguez said.

There was also good news about Lovell factory performance.

“We had some glitches to work out, but the factory is running like a top now and making good sugar,” he said.

Western Sugar operates seven beet receiving stations in the Lovell district. They are the Factory station, Emblem, Starr, West Powell, Willwood, O’Donnell and Ralston, with Bridger, Montana, also delivering to Lovell.