News Detail
Sugar beet growers pleased with 2009 results
2/8/2010 9:25:29 AM
By Sandra Hansen, Scottsbluff Star-Herald
What a difference a year makes.
Just ask area sugar beet growers who are nearing the end of the 2009 campaign and have just returned from the annaul Western Sugar Cooperative shareholders meeting in Casper, Wyo. Last year's meeting featured bad weather and disgruntled farmers. This year, shareholders were treated to good weather, received exciting financial news and are looking forward to a very prosperous year.
Myron Klein of Scottsbluff said Friday afternoon that about the only thing that could make the situation better right now would be to plant all their co-op acres, but growers have been so successful with new technologies, that the factories can't keep up. He, along with his fellow shareholders, are also excited about the financial rewards coming their way. "It's very positive for the growers that management is running the finances so well, that we can return rewards to the growers as quickly as possible. That's the reason the growers bought the Co-op, so we could gain on both sides."
A beet grower for 25 years, Klein said the word is spreading quickly among producers who didn't attend the annual meeting that "there will be a payment almost every month until October. It's all good news right now, and high prices take care of a lot of problems, but the main thing is that the industry is doing well," he said.
Kevin Hall, president of the WSC board of directors, said Casper was a very positive meeting where it was announced that growers would receive extra payments in February and July because of the good sugar prices, and patronage payments would be made in June and August. "The extra ordinary payments are an avenue to get more money into the pockets of our growers," Hall said Friday afternoon. "Based on a 15.93 percent sugar, it could amount to $51 a ton."
Hall also said the June patronage payment on the 2008 crop would be $3.53 a ton, and the August payment would be retained patronage back through 2007. "We made enough money so we're able to pay back the patronage," Hall said. "The shareholders are happy, the prices are good, and sugar beets are king again. There is a high demand, and we're having trouble finding acres for those who want to grow beets. Shares are tight."
Hall's positive outlook is much the same as that of Mike Hofer, Western's vice president of agriculture. He said the company planted 135,000 acres of sugar beets in 2009, and the acreage will be similar for 2010. This is because the planting capacity is the basis for yield, which has to reflect the capacity of the local sugar factories. Each has its own slicing and processing capacity.
Hofer said new technology and varieties have increased yield potential, and to stay within the processing capacities, growers will be restricted to between 80 and 95 percent of their shares/acres this year. "We've had exciting yields, so I'm really optimistic," Hofer said Friday from his Denver, Colo., office. "It's a great outlook for those shareholders to get rewarded for their efforts, and persistance in sticking with it."
The positive attitude can be found on the local level, as well. Jerry Darnell, Western's agriculture manager for the Nebraska district, said the biggest problem now is finding enough shares for those who want to grow beets. "Our growers are ecstatic," he said. "They like what's going on, and our goal this year is to get higher tons per acre and higher sugar, so the growers get more money for their efforts."
Darnell said the 2009 campaign will wrap up at the Torrington, Wyo., and Scottsbluff factories about Feb. 18. The last time campaign lasted this long was in 2006, when a 30 percent overplant was allowed. He said the weather needs to stay cool until then, to protect the piled beets. The company experimented with a new form of protecting the beet piles by covering some with large square straw bales. Those piles will be opened up beginning this week.
