WINNIPEG – Manitoba sugar beet producers could be bringing in their third largest haul on record if the weather co-operates.
Ken Yuill, president of the Manitoba Sugar Beet Producers Association, said about 400,000 tonnes of beets could be harvested this year. Last year, farmers set an all-time record of 505,000 tonnes.
“Last year (conditions) were just about ideal and perfect and we not only had a terrific root crop, but that root crop had excellent sugar content, and when you put the two together, it’s just a very good year,” Yuill said.
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This year, harvest got off to a slow start because of the unusually warm weather in late September, Yuill said. Sugar beets don’t store well in warm temperatures.
However, temperatures below -6 C create problems with harvesting, storing and processing, according to Don Petkau, agricultural superintendent at Rogers Sugar in Winnipeg.
Yuill said the 240 growers in Manitoba seeded about 26,000 acres of sugar beets this year. The beets are sold to the Rogers Sugar Ltd. refinery in Winnipeg, which expects to process 55,000 tonnes of sugar, 20,000 tonnes of molasses and 27,000 tonnes of beet pulp, used for cattle feed.
Petkau said processing began with a “mini-harvest” on Sept. 18. Jerry Zednai, general manager of the Rogers plant, told guests on a tour that the first loads of sugar processed are heading to U.S. destinations.
Zednai said while Manitoba and Alberta have shipped about 35,000 tonnes of sugar across the border in recent years, a new global quota of 22,000 tonnes has been set. Canada is trying to get the lion’s share of that quota.
In southern Alberta, the other sugar beet-growing region in the west, rainy weather has stopped harvest operations. The main harvest started Oct. 2, then stopped following wet, cold conditions, said a spokesperson for the Alberta Sugar Beet Growers Association in Taber.
All beet receiving stations were shut down and farmers had to take harvest one day at a time as they waited for drier weather to return.
Traditionally, the Alberta harvest lasts for the entire month of October.
Contracts with Rogers Sugar amounted to 34,400 acres in Alberta.
