| Beet processing campaign wrapping up |
 |
 |
 |
| Local Content - Agriculture |
| Written by Trevor Busch |
| Thursday, 07 January 2010 21:12 |
|
It was a season of ups and downs for sugar beet growers in the Taber area, from the less-than-ideal growing conditions experienced due to a cool, wet spring, to the unseasonable heat of September raising hopes of an increased yield. But those hopes were largely dashed by the early onset of wintry conditions in October, which would eventually lead to thousands of acres of beets later being abandoned in the ground. Despite the setbacks suffered by producers, the processing campaign has been going fairly smoothly. Andrew Llewelyn-Jones of Lantic Sugar predicts the processing should be completed by next week. “It’s sort of going well. We should be done about the middle of January. So far, we’ve had a tough year. The beets that we received prior to Oct. 8 were in very good condition. But since that major winter storm on Oct. 8, we’ve struggled with deteriorated beet quality, which has impacted our factory beet processing efficiency.” In previous weeks, the plant had been focusing on quickly processing any frost-damaged beets before completing the processing of beets delivered prior to Oct. 8. “We finished all our frost-damaged beets before Christmas, and so now we’re processing beets that were delivered before Oct. 8, before the winter weather hit. So things are going fairly well right now, and we expect to finish around the middle of January,” said Llewelyn-Jones. Frost-damaged beets and abandoned acreage have made this year one of the more unforgettable in recent memory, but for all the wrong reasons, added Llewelyn-Jones. “It (frost damage) has a significant impact on beet quality, and that has a significant impact on processing efficiency. So, it really was a very, very tough year for growers and for us, because we left about 6,700 acres in the ground because of the cold weather. So, it wasn’t a great harvest. The potential going into harvest was for a very good crop, and of course we didn’t realize that because of the extreme conditions that came down on us on Oct. 8.” Currently, seed orders are being processed in preparation for the 2010 growing season. “Right now, we’re in the process of sending out seed information to the growers, and they’re now in the process of sending back their seed orders for 2010,” said Llewelyn-Jones. “Certainly, we’re looking forward to the start of another crop year. I believe right now things are positive in the industry, and we’re looking forward to a good year in 2010.” Plant processing time depends on the size of the harvest and the timing of the season, according to Llewelyn-Jones. “That depends entirely on the size of the crop. Last year in 2008 we had quite a small crop and we were finished before Christmas. Even with the significant problems we had this year, we’re still going to finish in the second week of January, somewhere in there. So it (2008) was a larger crop, even though our acres were a lot higher, we had about 18,000 acres in 2008, compared to close to 30,000 in 2009.” Llewelyn-Jones is looking towards the future as the disappointing 2009 harvest and processing campaign winds down. “We’re busy trying to finish off processing the beets from 2009, and we’re looking forward to 2010. I think all of us in the industry are, from the growers through the company, and I think that’s what we’re hoping for, is a good rebound in 2010.” |