Sugarbeet Crop Hit Hard by Weather, High Abandonment

KANSAS CITY, MO – Last season’s sugarbeet crop was significantly affected by poor weather during the harvest season. Cold and wet conditions resulted in frozen ground in many regions, particularly in the major producing states of Minnesota and North Dakota. Sugarbeets had to be left in the ground, unharvested, as equipment could not dig into the frozen soil to harvest, and many that were harvested late in the season were damaged and deemed unsuitable for processing. According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service’s (NASS) November 1st forecast, 14 percent of planted sugarbeet acreage is expected to go unharvested. In a typical year, 1.5 percent to 3.5 percent is lost to abandonment. The reduction in sugarbeet production accounts for a 5 percent decline in expected domestic sugar production, compared with October USDA forecasts.