The 2020 beet harvest is in the books. And it may be one of the best harvests for producers in recent memory.

Ric Rodriguez is a Heart Mountain beet grower and one of nine board members of the Western Sugar Cooperative. He pointed out that the old standard yield was 18-20 tons and 17% sugar content.

But when Roundup ready beets were introduced in 2010, Rodriguez said, coupled with genetic improvement in the beet varieties, the yield jumped to 28-30 tons per acre, while the sugar content was retained.

Roundup ready indicates the plant is resistant to the herbicide while the grass and weeds around it are not. Rodriguez said it frees beet growers from cultivating the fields, eliminating the associated costs of fuel and paying for help.

“We only spray twice and don’t have to cultivate.” he said. “But the seeds cost more.” 

This year the yields hovered around 27.5 tons per acre, and some 100 acres were left unharvested in the Lovell district. Beets are left in the ground, Rodriguez said, when they are on the verge of rotting, usually caused by wide swings in weather and moisture at harvest.

The beets that were harvested, though, were at an unusually high sugar content. This year the Basin crop averaged 19.12%, as compared to the average year with just 17% sugar. A higher sugar content is worth more money per ton of beets on Great Western’s shareholder agreement scale.

“This was a very good year, “ Rodriguez said. “Because we are a co-op the producers share the costs. A good production year means the factories run more efficiently.”