TABER, Alta. – Southern Alberta’s sugar beet harvest “is going quite well,” said the agricultural superintendent for Lantic Sugar in Taber.
Andrew Llewelyn-Jones said more than 40 percent of the crop has been delivered to receiving stations, including the factory yard in Taber, and already trucks are moving some of the beets from the outlying receiving stations at Coaldale, Tempest, Enchant, Vauxhall and Burdett.
The movement is focused on beets in less than ideal condition for storage in piles.
He said in a normal weather year, harvest could be 30 to 60 percent finished, depending on the weather.
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Deliveries to receiving stations are not setting any records, mainly because many growers also have other crops to harvest.
The quality of the beets harvested has been “very good” and the average sugar extraction is higher than 18 percent.
That measurement comes from daily tests of every beet shipment to the factory lab.
Llewelyn-Jones isn’t expecting record yields like 2006’s 26 tonnes per acre and 2007’s 25 tonnes per acre.
He said farmers will harvest more than 30,000 acres.
About 31,000 acres were planted, but 1,000 acres were lost to wet weather conditions.
With those acres and anticipated yields, Llewelyn-Jones estimates an early January completion to the beet processing operation.
