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More sugar beet acres planned in Idaho in 2010
By: Scott Kraus, [L=http://www.agweekly.com/Ag Weekly Online[EL]
4-7-2010
Idaho's sugar beet acreage this year will rise an estimated 3 percent to 169,000, according to a March 31 report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Last year, state farmers planted 164,000 acres.
But final acreage is hard to estimate, according to John Schorr, corporate director of agriculture for the Amalgamated Sugar Co. It's not uncommon to lose some acreage after beets are in the ground.
"That all depends on weather, water availability - all kinds of things," Schorr said.
Amalgamated, which is a farmer-owned cooperative, encompasses all sugar beet farmers in Idaho, and also includes some farmers from Washington and Oregon.
Company-wide, Amalgamated expects to plant a total of 182,000 acres in 2010, Schorr said. That is up from last year's overall total of 175,000 acres. In fact, some acres are already going into the ground, he noted.
Also, producers are able to plant Roundup Ready sugar beets again this year. The beets, which are the subject of a lawsuit, are genetically enhanced to allow the use of Roundup to kill weeds, which is a major issue for growers.
In prior years, Roundup has proven to work well compared to herbicides available for conventional beets, according to Jeff Henry, of Eden, Idaho, who grows beets in the Sugarloaf area for Amalgamated.
Henry has planted about half of his acreage so far to Roundup Ready beets. He hopes to get in the rest soon.
Irrigation water is a concern for producers, after low snowpacks in the winter, according to Henry, adding that wet spring weather could still help.
Meanwhile, prices are still promising for sugar beets, especially compared to some other crops. Sugar supplies are tight globally, according to the March 15 Sugar and Sweeteners Outlook from the Economic Research Service. And prospects for returns from sugar beets likely spurred the rise in acreage, according to Henry.
Prices aren't what they were, he said, but initial prospects look good for a profitable year.
"I think every share in our company that's viable will be planted," he said.
