Healthy harvest stands are instrumental in achieving highyield goals.

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effect on sugarbeet yield, quality and storability. Syngentas
Hilleshg brand is your leader in Rhizoctonia tolerance
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Hilleshg is a business unit of Syngenta Seeds, Inc.

HILLESHG, the ALLIANCE FRAME, the HILLESHG logo, the PURPOSE ICON and the Syngenta logo are trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company.
2011 Syngenta Seeds, Inc. Longmont, CO 80501. All rights reserved.

Serving The Nations Sugarbeet

Community Since 1963
Volume 50 Number 5
July/August 2011

Page 8
Sugar Publications
4601 16th Ave. N.
Fargo, ND 58102

Page 14

Phone: (701) 476-2111

Fax: (701) 476-2182
E-Mail: sugar@forumprinting.com
Web Site: www.sugarpub.com

Feature Articles

Publisher:
Sugar Publications

Early Harvest: What to Dig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Company ag officials discuss prepile field selection

Believers in Strip Till . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

General Manager & Editor:

Don Lilleboe
Advertising Manager:
Heidi Wieland
(701) 476-2003
Graphics:
Forum Communications Printing

The Sugarbeet Grower is published six

times annually (January, February, March,
April/May, July/August, November/December)
by Sugar Publications, a division of Forum
Communications Printing.
North American sugarbeet producers receive the magazine on a complimentary basis.
Annual subscription rates are $12.00 domestic and $18.00 for foreign subscribers.
Advertising in The Sugarbeet Grower
does not necessarily imply endorsement of a
particular product or service by the publisher.

The Breidenbachs of Colorado

European Presence in Michigan Harvest . . . . . . . 12

Roggenbucks use German-made harvesters, cart & cleaner/loader

Energy Beets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
North Dakotans pushing biofuel industry development

California Group Also Explores Beets as Biofuel . . 16

Mendota project could bring sugarbeets back to Central Valley

Energy Beet Agronomics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Yield trials & variety development moving ahead

Regular Pages
Dateline: Washington . . . . . . . . . . 10
Budget battles & the next farm bill

Visit Our Website!

Now Updated & Expanded!

Write Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

www.sugarpub.com

Around the Industry . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Humility on the Golf Course . . .

THE SUGARBEET GROWER July/August 2011

Front Cover
A 2010 harvest scene
on the Aaron Wetterlin farm
in western Minnesotas
Clay County.
Photo: Don Lilleboe

Who, what & where its happening

Early Harvest:
What to Dig

Photo: Don Lilleboe

Sugar Company Ag Officials Discuss Factors

In Prepile Field Selection Decisions

ost but not all sugarbeet

processors conduct an early harvest (prepile) campaign to get their factories up and rolling prior to the
initiation of the main harvest season.
Once the factory begins operating,
of course, it must be supplied with a
constant flow of beets until the main
harvest starts a few weeks later, generating the mother lode that will keep
things humming for months. The percentage of the total crop thats actually
delivered during prepile varies from
district to district and year to year, but
a general range would be 10 to 20. It
can go even higher (as it did in Michigan last year, where it was over 25%).
The primary consideration for both
grower and processor when it comes to
early harvest beet delivery is neither
mysterious nor surprising: maximizing
revenue, minimizing problems both
short- and long-term. Sometimes the
decisions regarding which acres to deliver during prepile are fairly straightforward; at other times, the selection
call is decidedly less clear-cut. With
that in mind, The Sugarbeet Grower recently surveyed ag officials at several

sugar companies for their thoughts regarding the prioritization of fields for
early harvest delivery.

Which Fields First?

Tom Knudsen, vice president of
agriculture for Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative, says his company uses a
simple rule of thumb: Harvest the
worst first. Its a mantra shared by
most companies. Whether the worst
is caused by disease, late planting,
hail, weeds or other factors, you will
maximize sugar production by keeping
your good fields untouched for as long
as possible, Knudsen observes. We
always prefer to get as many diseased
fields harvested as soon as possible.
In the end, though, it remains the
growers choice, he adds.
Paul Pfenninger, vice presidentagriculture for Michigan Sugar Company sees the matter similarly. We
really look at disease in plant development, he says. If Rhizoctonia or Cercospora leafspot got away on them for
any reason, theyre not going to get a
better yield than whats already there.

If theres any one reason why a grower

delivers early, from our standpoint, it
would be disease and/or poor quality
beets that will not store well.
Other ingredients enter into the
mix too, of course. Fields testing
higher in nitrogen usually are not recommended for early harvest due to
their lower sugar percentage. High
nitrogen levels or above-average mineralization in August could reduce the
sugar content and would make it unfavorable to consider that field for delivery during prepile season, points out
Nick Arends, American Crystal Sugar
Companys ag strategy development
manager. Thats one reason why American Crystal encourages growers to
take prepile delivery sequence into account even prior to planting their beets
in the spring. We would typically recommend 20-30 units less nitrogen on a
field that is planned on being harvested early in the prepile season to
maximize recoverable sugar per ton,
Arends explains.
Then theres the other end of the
season i.e., planning for the postbeet crop. Growers also must take
into account what preparations need to
be considered for the crop going into
that field next season, says Stacey
Camp, agricultural manager for Amalgamated Sugar Companys Mini-Cassia
factory district. They may need to fall
work the ground for the next crop.
Getting a cover crop well established on harvested beet ground prior
to freeze-up also can weigh into the
equation. Some of our growers particularly in western Nebraska and
northeastern Colorado are on highly
erodible soils, notes Kent Wimmer, director of shareholder relations for
Western Sugar Cooperative. They
want to get a cover crop in yet that fall,
so thats another criterion coming into
play.

Whole Fields or Headlands?

Some growers opt to harvest entire
fields in order to fulfill their early harvest delivery obligations; others instead remove headlands and
strikeout field centers on most or all
their fields. Again, its a matter of
grower preference, not something the
sugar company dictates.
In our area, growers much prefer
to harvest headlands and strikeouts
during prepile and leave the rest of the
field for full campaign, reports Todd
Geselius, vice president-agriculture for
Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative. This is largely driven by the
concern for getting their other crops

THE SUGARBEET GROWER July/August 2011

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harvested in a timely manner after the

beet harvest is completed. Since harvesting the headlands and strikeouts is
relatively more time consuming, they
try to get that done when they have
more time available.
Kent Wimmer says theres a mixture of both approaches in the large
four-state region encompassed by Denver-based Western Sugar. We might
get into an area where we have to mandate early harvest, and some people
might not want to. A lot of them will
then take out headland rows or otherwise open a field. Western growers
can shift early harvest tonnage obligations over to willing neighbors, without
penalty. But if no one else agrees to
cover by delivering more tons, that
grower is then obliged to do so.
In Michigan, where many fields are
in the 40-acre range, compared to significantly larger fields in states further
west, guys who want to get a lot done
at a given time will open up the fields,
taking out the headlands and ditch
banks. So when they pull in during
peak harvest, its ready to roll, Paul
Pfenninger says. The downside of
that is, if it gets wet and stays wet,
where theres still beets, they tend to
soak up some moisture and help dry
out the ground a bit. But once you

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Prepile is a great time for growers

to shed and harvest their poorerproducing fields or portions of
fields, leaving the healthiest to last.
That maximizes sugar production
while keeping poor-quality beets
from going into long-term storage.
open up that headland and the water
sits in those cavities where the beets
were, it can be come an issue.
Most American Crystal growers use
prepile to open up all their fields, harvesting headlands and creating strikeouts, says Nick Arends. Some growers
especially in the larger acreage category do harvest whole fields during
the prepile campaign, however. They
have figured out that if they manage
their fields correctly and identify highquality fields, they can utilize the
prepile system to their advantage by
harvesting entire fields, Arends explains.

The Compensation Angle

Though each has different features,
every sugar company has some type of
system in place to compensate growers
for the tonnage and/or sugar content
they typically sacrifice by harvesting a
field in August or early September versus during the main harvest later in
the fall. Therein lies both opportunity
and risk, depending upon how astutely
a grower manages his early harvest
schedule.
With our system, growers are competing against the Red River Valley
daily average recoverable sugar/ton
throughout the entire prepile period
a number that is not known when
growers start delivering prepile beets,
Arends explains. Growers can still
maximize revenue by picking the best
quality fields for their farm; but if a
grower knows he will be below average
quality for that day, [he] can transfer
[his] prepile quota to another grower
who is willing to deliver additional
prepile beets.
The American Crystal prepile payment system is designed to compensate
shareholders for unrealized gains in
tonnage and sugar. Growth and sugar
premiums are based on growth per
day. Tonnage growth is a fixed percentage each day, while sugar growth
is calculated on a regression from the
beginning of prepile to its end, with an
additional factor for stockpile sugar at
the 50% complete point. The most
common error, Arends says, is that too

many growers continue the status quo

approach, routinely delivering from
headlands and strikeouts rather than
sampling fields prior to prepile and
then making a more-educated decision
on which fields to prepile in order to
maximize revenue for their farm.
Michigan Sugar currently has a
tonnage premium for early harvest
beets, with plans underway to institute
a quality factor as well (though perhaps not in time for the 2011 harvest).
The present MSC policy gives growers
97.25% of their station average sugar
content, regardless of what their own
beets content is. That naturally tends
to suppress the incentive to incur lateseason inputs, such as a final fungicide
application for Cercospora leafspot.
Western Sugar pays a per-day tonnage premium on beets delivered during the early harvest campaign. Its
on an escalating scale: the earlier you
harvest, the bigger the premium explains Kent Wimmer. Also, during
regular harvest we use an assessment
of sugar loss to molasses. During early
harvest, that sugar loss to molasses assessment is waived.

Summing Up
No matter how well a producer has
planned for the early harvest phase of
the growing season, there always will
be some unknowns, some uncertainty.
Weather, of course, heads the list.
Weather is the biggest factor that can
change the order of fields to be harvested, affirms Amalgamateds Stacey
Camp. Also, every grower has other
crops to deal with that influence
where and how one allocates labor and
equipment at a given time.
Knowing ones fields intimately
helps avoid potential problems during
prepile as well as during the rest of
the harvest season, emphasizes MinnDaks Tom Knudsen. I consider
[prepile] a great time for growers to
shed and harvest their poorer-producing fields or portions of fields, he says,
leaving the healthiest to last. That
approach maximizes sugar production
while keeping poor-quality beets from
going into long-term storage, he points
out.
It seems that every grower has a
little different philosophy about the
prepile process and what is best for
their operation, summarizes Southern
Minnesotas Todd Geselius. Having
said that, growers understand what is
important to the cooperative and
they do an outstanding job of making
decisions that provide the most benefit
for everyone. Don Lilleboe

THE SUGARBEET GROWER July/August 2011

Page 7
ACH Seeds Ad 4/c
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CRYSTAL SUGARBEET SEED distributed by: ACH Seeds Inc. 1.877.224 .7333 Crystal Beet Seed 1.218.236.4788

Photos: Don Lilleboe

Breidenbach Brothers partners include,

left to right: Luke, Dave, Jack and Steve.
Steve is the father of Dave and Jack;
Luke is Daves son. Daves other son,
Don, also is a partner in the longtime
family farm, based near Iliff, Colo.

Believers in Strip Till

The Breidenbachs of N.E. Colorado
he Breidenbach sugarbeet legacy in
northeastern Colorado goes back a
long way all the way, in fact, to 1905
when Frank Breidenbach began growing the crop for the new beet factory at
Sterling.
So much has changed since then, of
course. But the Breidenbach farming
enterprise now comprised of one of

Franks grandsons, two great-grandsons and two great-great-grandsons

has continued producing sugarbeets
and evolving with the times. Today,
the family operation includes Stephen,
his sons Dave and Jack, along with
Daves sons, Don and Luke. Together,
they farm 5,000 acres of Logan County
ground, including 1,100 acres of sugar-

beets, another 2,500 of corn and 1,400

in alfalfa. Ninety percent of their
acreage is under center-pivot irrigation systems that utilize ditch and
reservoir water.
The Breidenbachs also run 400
Angus mother cows, wintering them
on corn stalks from November through
March.
One of the biggest changes in recent years has been the Breidenbachs
transition to strip-till production of
their row crops. They began strip tilling in 2008, and by the following year
had converted 100% of their sugarbeet
and corn acreage over to the system.
Theyre hardly alone. As of 2009,
about 30% of Colorado sugarbeet acres
were under strip till; by 2011, the level
was around 35%. In neighboring Nebraska, half of Western Sugar Cooperative shareholders acreage was in
strip till as of two years ago; now its
closer to 60%.
The region-wide trend has been
largely driven by (1) less tillage and
hence better conservation of soil moisture, (2) early spring wind erosion protection provided by the inter-row crop
residue, (3) significant fuel savings
and reduced equipment wear due to
fewer passes through the field, and (4)
the ability to apply fertilizer with the
strip-till pass. It also has gone handin-hand with the ability to plant
Roundup Ready sugarbeets.
I tell people that strip till,
Roundup Ready and Trimble (GPS)
are, together, as big a change in farming as going from a horse to a tractor,
Jack affirms. Its a total system.
Annual precipitation in the area
averages around 14-15 inches, so conserving moisture in the spring is
huge, Jack continues. I think that
weve probably saved two inches of
moisture by moving away from conventional till and, the texture of our
soil is so much better. That in turn
contributes to improved water infiltration, not only during the irrigation
cycle, but when Mother Nature turns
on the spigot. We tend to get hard
rains, Jack says. With conventional
till, that water just runs off; but with
this tillage system, it doesnt.
The reduced damage from wind
erosion has been a huge benefit, he
adds. We get some vicious spring
winds, and weve [previously] lost up

THE SUGARBEET GROWER July/August 2011

For the past quarter century, the Breidenbachs have

used a custom-built push-tractor system to keep trucks
moving in sloping fields and wet conditions during harvest. Its safer and easier than hooking up chains,
Jack notes. You can just hook up, push them through a
wet spot, and release. The disks on the back of the
push tractor fill in the center-pivot units deep wheel
tracks prior to passage by the beet lifter and trucks.

to a third of the beets, Jack recounts.

Replants have averaged less than 5%
the past three years, however, while
plant stands, as well as final yields,
have steadily increased. The Briedenbachs averaged 29 tons and 17% sugar
last year.
The Breidenbachs follow both corn
and alfalfa with strip-tilled beets.
They use a 12-row Orthman unit
pulled by a JD 8530, tilling to a depth
of 8-10 inches. Liquid fertilizer goes
down with the Orthman, while starter
is added with the planter.
Because they graze cattle on much
of their ground and likewise are very
busy in the fall with row-crop harvesting, the strip-till pass is performed in
the spring typically late February
or early March, as weather allows. On
corn ground, theyll typically till at an
angle to the old corn rows. Planting
usually gets underway in early April.
When farming conventionally, the
Breidenbachs were performing up to
eight or nine field operations prior to
planting the sugarbeets plowing,
mulching twice, two land plane passes,
and double bedding. If it wasnt dry
enough, wed go till it again to make
sure it (the soil moisture) was all
gone! Jack quips, tongue in cheek.
Now their entire program is comprised
of the single strip-till pass, followed by
the planter.
The Breidenbachs estimate that
the combination of growing Roundup
Ready beets under a strip-till system
has bolstered their yields by around
three tons per acre on average. We
couldnt have done it (strip tilling)
without the Roundup Ready, Dave observes. Because we couldnt get [ade-

THE SUGARBEET GROWER July/August 2011

Its just a lot easier

to get a good stand.
I wouldnt go back.
quate] control from the previous herbicides, wed still have had to cultivate.
The [strip-tilled] seedbed is so

much better than it was under conventional, he adds. We have overall better soil health, including more
earthworms. And we have much less
soil erosion from wind due to having
that old-crop residue on top.
Its just a lot easier to get a good
stand. I wouldnt go back. Don
Lilleboe

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Dateline:
Washington
uring June and July, Washington
was consumed by the theatrical
negotiations among our government
leaders in their efforts to avert defaulting on the nations debts on August 2. The size and timing of the
spending cuts and a pitched battle
over tax increases as part of the package have created major political challenges in achieving a solution. Most
members of Congress, however, have
a clear determination that a solution
must be achieved, because the ramifications of inaction will negatively impact our nation and every citizen in a
significant way.
On various occasions, the agriculture community has sent letters to
the President and congressional
leaders to express concern that agriculture not be asked to bear more
than its fair share of federal spending cuts. In addition, it is very important that whatever the level of
reductions required as the result of
the negotiations, the policy changes
should be left up to the committees
of jurisdiction (i.e., the agriculture
committees) in Congress. These
committees understand the intricacies and the priorities of policies that
impact agriculture.
One of the key questions in the
debt debate is, Do you do a big deal
with major changes, or string this
process out over time with multiple
smaller deals?
The real answer is to do the big
deal once. Make the painful decisions and lay out the new parameters, and then let the policymakers
conform to meet the new spending
constraints. If uncertainty lingers
month after month with future polit-

10

By
Luther Markwart
Executive
Vice President
American
Sugarbeet
Growers Assn.

ical standoffs and tough political

votes, committees are paralyzed in
their efforts to craft policies that
must be sustained for years to come.
How would you write a farm bill if
you were never really certain of the
dollars available to fund a five-year
bill? Once the ag committees get a
spending number, the real policy debate over the next farm bill will
begin. Stay tuned.

the visits was the ASGA sugarbeet

ink pen (with a floating beet) that
was designed by ASGAs Brianne
Blevins. Our outstanding summer
intern, Heather Carlquist, was responsible for assembling all of the
call materials. We have a great
team behind our growers.

n mid-July, your grower leaders

walked miles upon miles of hallways on Capitol Hill, talking with
hundreds of lawmakers and staff.
The message was simple and clear:
We have a no-cost sugar policy, and
it is working for growers, processors,
bankers, consumers and taxpayers.
It was a message that was well
received. You would be extremely
proud of the job they did as ambassadors on your behalf. They left
their farms during very busy times
to do critically important work, and I
ask that you express your deepest
appreciation to them for their time
and effort to make these visits.
A special thank you also goes
out to ASGA Vice President Ruthann
Geib for a massive undertaking to
prepare and coordinate this effort.
One of the coveted handouts during

It is our sincere hope that a draft

of the extensive Roundup Ready
Environmental Impact Statement
will be available for public review
sometime this fall. The draft will
have a time period during which the
public can submit comments in support of or opposition to the EIS.
Just as we did last winter, numerous comments of support from
our industry will play an important
part in USDAs consideration and
determination on the future status
of the technology. May 2012 remains the expectation as to when a
final deregulation decision will be
made by USDA.

The message was simple

and clear: We have a nocost sugar policy, and it
is working for growers,
processors, bankers,
consumers and taxpayers.

Roundup Ready Environmental

Impact Statement

2012 ASGA Annual Meeting

Save the date for the 2012 ASGA
Annual Meeting: February 9-11 at
the Walt Disney World Swan and
Dolphin hotel in Orlando, Fla.
Reservations must be made
through the ASGA website to receive
the group room rate of $239, which
will be offered until December 19.
Online meeting registration will be
available beginning November 1.
Visit the ASGA website for details
www.americansugarbeet.org.

THE SUGARBEET GROWER July/August 2011

Planted Acres Up Almost 6% Over 10

USDAs June 30-released planted
acreage estimate for the nations 2011
sugarbeet crop came in at nearly 1.24
million acres. Thats almost 6% above
the 2010 level of 1.17 million acres. It
also was higher than the March 2011
initial projection of 1.19 million.
On a percentage basis, the biggest
rise is in North Dakota, where USDA is
estimating 240,000 planted acres this
year, compared to 217,000 in 2010 a

10.6% hike. At a projected 475,000

planted acres, Minnesota comes in 5.8%
above that states 2010 level of 449,000.
At 176,000, Idahos planted acreage
is 3% higher than in 2010. At 152,000,
the Michigan acreage level is 3.4%
above last year.
Though California planted area is
estimated to be down by only 100 acres
this year, that level would be the lowest
beet acreage on record for the state.

Planted U.S. Sugarbeet Acreage: 2009, 2010 & 2011*

California
Colorado
Idaho
Michigan
Minnesota
Montana
Nebraska
North Dakota
Oregon
Wyoming
United States

2009
25,300
35,100
164,000
138,000
464,000
38,400
53,000
225,000
10,600
32,400
1,185,800

2010
25,100
28,900
171,000
147,000
449,000
42,600
50,000
217,000
10,300
30,500
1,171,400

2011*
25,000
29,300
176,000
152,000
475,000
44,800
53,000
240,000
10,900
31,500
1,237,500

Simplot Grower Solutions

We offer you comprehensive

coverage among growers
in every North American
sugarbeet production area!
For Details, Contact:
Heidi Wieland
(701) 476-2003
hwieland@forumprinting.com
Upcoming Issues:
November/December
January
February
March

* Estimated
June 2011
Source:
USDA-NASS

A Complete Precision Ag Package

Including Sound Agronomic Recommendations

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Complete Software Collection / Fully Integrated
In-House Data Management and Archives
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Services Include:

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Veris Mapping
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Call or visit the Simplot Grower Solutions Location nearest you today!
North Dakota
Cavalier - (701) 265-4524
Joliette - (701) 454-6304
Minto - (701) 248-3212

THE SUGARBEET GROWER (Upper Midwest) July/August 2011

Minnesota
Grafton - (701) 352-0861
Walhalla - (701) 549-2744
Crystal - (701) 657-2332

East Grand Forks - (218) 773-2421

Shelly - (218) 886-6325
Hendrum - (218) 861-6222
Moorhead - (218) 233-7271
Stephen - (218) 478-3312

1v

Beet Tailings Help Remove

Phosphate from Water
Florida Researchers Develop Effective Method
University of Florida research project has demonstrated
the effectiveness of a partially burned organic matter
called biochar to remove phosphate from water. The laboratory study used sugarbeet tailings.
The researchers started by collecting solid residues left
after beet tailings were fermented in an anaerobic digester,
which yields methane gas. The material was baked at about
1,000 degrees Fahrenheit to make biochar.
The biochar was added to a water-phosphate solution and
mixed for 24 hours. It removed about three-fourths of the
phosphate much better results than those obtained with
other compounds, including commercial water-treatment materials. The phosphate-laden biochar can be applied directly
to soils as a slow-release fertilizer.
This project was reported on in Bioresource Technology.
The UF research team plans to investigate whether
biochar could remove nitrogen from wastewater. The team
also has been testing the potential for biochar to purify water
of heavy metals, including lead and copper.
A key challenge is to make this biomass technology more
cost-effective. One of the UF researchers helped design,
build and operate an anaerobic digester at the Moorhead factory of American Crystal Sugar Company. The digester,
which used beet tailings similar to those in the UF study,
worked well. However, the economics were not favorable, and
research halted once the projects grant funding ended.

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THE SUGARBEET GROWER (Upper Midwest) April/May 2011

Talk About Challenging!

Every veteran sugarbeet grower has memories of at least
a few harvest seasons where Mother Natures water spigot
seemingly never shuts off.
One of the toughest northern Red River Valley harvests
in memory has to have been that of 1959. The narrative
below tells the story of that years extraordinarily challenging harvest season in southern Manitoba. It is excerpted
from Sugar Farmers of Manitoba, a book published by the
Manitoba Beet Growers Association in 1968.
Sugarbeets were grown and processed in Manitoba from
1940 until 1995, when the Rogers Sugar factory at Fort
Garry (Winnipeg) closed its doors.
Hopefully history will not repeat itself at least in
terms of these kinds of conditions anytime soon.

old autumn rains began to fall late in September with

the harvest barely a week underway. Up to seven and a
half inches came down at one time, soaking to the skin the
men on the harvesting machines. The temperature was
barely above freezing.
The rain continued unceasingly, making the fields a
morass of mud and beets, into October when the temperature fell below freezing and the rain turned to snow. Soon,
the temperature fell well below zero, and by Nov. 1 the
ground was frozen solid with 50 per cent 135,000 tons
of the beet crop still in it.
With the persistence that only farmers with their backs
to the wall could display, we started harvest in earnest
when the ground was frozen, said Lee Tully.
The harvesters started to roll day and night; beets were
piled in the fields until the ground was sufficiently frozen to
carry trucks. Many men worked around the clock until exhaustion forced them to get some sleep. The mercury
dropped to zero and then to 10 below. Still the harvesters
went until the middle of December when the factory, running out of beets, was forced to shut down, stopping harvesting operations.
Twenty per cent of the acreage was harvested after
freeze-up, leaving about one-third unharvested.
The tonnage was cut to 192,000 from the estimated
270,000. The sugar content fell to 13.8 per cent from 17.2
per cent the year before. The heavier soil areas to the east
were hardest hit. . . .
At the peak of the harvest, the farmers were working in
one to two feet of snow. It was a problem just to find the
row of beets. The ground got so hard that the steel slicing
knives and digging wheels would break off the harvesters,
forcing a halt until they were repaired. At night, which
came about 5 p.m., a light would be attached to the harvester and operations would proceed by the glare of one
bare bulb. . . .
Not all was misery. Some farmers were fortunate
enough to begin harvest immediately on Sept. 14; they were
nearly finished by the time the rains came in the last week
of September. . . .
Many growers would probably have been willing to harvest until New Years to get their crop in, had the factory
not closed down. . . . With numbed fingers and frozen faces,
white like snowmen from the falling snow, they carried on.
Their attitude was not one of defeat or despair, although
there was lots of groaning and moaning, but a hope that
1960 would be an improvement.

THE SUGARBEET GROWER (Upper Midwest) July/August 2011

3v

EU Faces Sugar Shortage; Could

Congress Position U.S. Likewise?
Commentary from the American Sugar Alliance
n 2005 the European Union (EU) overhauled its sugar policy, sharply cutting back domestic production and
increasing reliance on imports. Now, six
years later, the consequences of being so
dependent on foreign sugar suppliers in
todays highly volatile world sugar market are starting to surface.
Reuters reported in June, Some
German retailers are limiting the
amount of sugar that customers can buy
to 4 kilogrammes per purchase due to a
shortage.
Rationing sugar should bring back a
lot of bad memories for America. We
were in the same boat during World War
II and were forced to ration sugar in
1942 because foreign supplies dried up.
In fact, the U.S. sugar policy we have
today different than the EUs policy
because it operates at no cost to taxpayers and without subsidy checks was
constructed by Congress to ensure an
adequate supply of homegrown sugar.
Despite the lessons of Americas past
and the EUs present, some in Congress
are again looking to make us dependent
on foreign supplies. Four bills have
been introduced to do just that, albeit
with little fanfare.
People with impressive credentials
are cautioning U.S. lawmakers of falling

4v

into a potentially devastating trap.

Retired Army General Wesley Clark,
a former presidential candidate and
Supreme Allied Commander of NATO,
wrote in a February article about food
rationing: The harsh reality is Americas political leaders must take appropriate measures today to ensure that
farmers do not become an endangered
species tomorrow a loss we cannot afford.
I am no farm policy expert, but I
know about national security, and I
know that farmers are as important
today as they were in 1942, Clark concluded. As a new Congress debates
Americas future . . . , they should think
of the 210,000 farms that produce 80%
of the countrys agricultural output as a
thin green line standing between prosperity and disaster.
Patrick Chatenay, a London-based
agricultural consultant who has worked
closely with EU sugar producers, agrees.
The dismantling of EU sugar policy
held unexpected consequences, one of
which was to dramatically increase supply uncertainty and price fluctuations,
he said. Sugar is a vital ingredient in
the food supply and in key biochemical
processes, and to hand over control of its
supply to foreign nations isnt wise. As

seen in the very recent past, food commodity export bans do happen.
Since the EU sugar policy change,
just 18 of the EUs 27 member states
have continued to produce sugar, down
from 23 in 2005, according to a July 8
International Sugar Journal article.
Only France, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Benelux are still producing a
surplus, the article noted, and the resulting concentrated industry in the EU
has left some of the 18 states producing
just half the amount of sugar as before.
The problems surfacing in the EU
probably wouldnt surprise McKeanyFlavell Company of Oakland, Calif. The
commodity research firm, which provides counsel to U.S. food manufacturers
and sugar producers, predicted a dire
fate for U.S. food companies if imports
replaced domestic production.
Volatile prices, inconsistent quality
and delivery issues would result if the
domestic food industry had to depend on
foreign sugar, their 2009 study concluded.
Our recommendation: be careful.
Significantly greater United States dependence on imported sugar may not
guarantee lower sugar pricing over the
long term, read the report.
In addition to pricing concerns, the
study examined other headaches that
food manufacturers would face without
Americas sugar industry. Among them:
consistency of supply; consistency of
quality; the form in which sugar is delivered; and just-in-time delivery, a term
used to describe the domestic sugar delivery chain where sugar producers are
responsible for storage, handling and
transportation under precise delivery
schedules.
[W]e must recognize the value U.S.
sugar producers offer to consumers,
wrote McKeany-Flavell. Providing consistent quality and supply, in the requested packaged form, and through
just-in-time deliveries . . . is a very complex and difficult process that cannot be
recreated overnight, if at all, through a
100% sugar import program.
America is already more dependent
on foreign suppliers than most would
think. Trade deals have forced the
United States to be the second biggest
sugar importer in the world imports
account for approximately one-quarter
of the market and low prices in past
years forced 33 U.S. sugar facilities to
close between 1996 and 2008.
As Wesley Clark said, the time has
come to hold the thin green line. And
Congress could take a big step in that
direction by keeping current sugar policy, and current domestic sugar production, in place.

THE SUGARBEET GROWER (Upper Midwest) July/August 2011

European Presence
In Michigan Harvest

Photos: Don Lilleboe

Roggenbucks Utilize German-Built Ropa Tigers,

Maus & Big Bear to Bring in Their Beet Crop

Above: One of two Ropa Tiger self-propelled harvesters owned by the Roggenbucks,
who farm near Harbor Beach, Mich. They purchased their first one in 2003.
Below: Doug, Jim and Mike Roggenbuck of Michigans Helena Valley Farms.

12

ere it not for the American-made

semis rumbling to and from field
perimeters, visitors to Helena Valley
Farms during the sugarbeet harvest
season could be excused for wondering
if they werent actually somewhere in
Europe rather than the Thumb region
of eastern Michigan. Two huge Ropa
Tiger self-propelled harvesters move
up and down the field, each dumping
its topped and lifted beets into a 34ton-capacity Big Bear track cart. The
cart in turn unloads its contents on
field headlands, where the beets sit for
at least a couple days before being run
through a self-propelled Maus another Ropa-built unit that cleans and
loads the piled beets into trucks for the
trip to the factory.
Together, those four machines represent a very big investment for their
owners around $900,000. But for the
Roggenbucks of Helena Valley Farms,
the Ropa implements also represent
big savings savings in labor, savings
in use of other harvest-related equipment, and savings in field traffic.
Father Mike and brothers Doug and
Jim Roggenbuck were the first U.S.
sugarbeet producers to purchase a German-built Tiger harvester. They
bought it new in 2003 through southwestern Ontario growers John Noorloos and Eugen Burgin, who operate
the Ropa franchise for North America.
After expanding their beet acreage, the
Roggenbucks bought a used second
Tiger in 2005. Two years later they
purchased a used Maus for their Huron
and Sanilac County-based operation.
The most recent addition to their harvest package, the Big Bear cart, was
purchased new for the 2010 harvest.
Before traveling the Ropa route,
we had two toppers, two harvesters
and four carts, in a given field, Jim recounts. That meant eight drivers
compared to a total of three to operate
the two Ropa harvesters and Big Bear
cart. The Roggenbucks simultaneously
transitioned from 30-inch rows down to
20s when first switching over to the
Tiger; so they top and dig six 20-inch
rows with each harvester.
Helena Valley Farms currently includes 1,500 acres of sugarbeets within
its cropping rotation.
Truck traffic on their heavy clay
soils can produce both traction challenges and compaction problems during a wet harvest season. Even before
they bought the Big Bear, the Roggenbucks kept trucks out of the fields, instead carting everything to field edges
to eventually be loaded by the Maus
into waiting semi trailers. The
Roggenbucks actually bought the Big

THE SUGARBEET GROWER July/August 2011

Im going golfing with Michael.

It happens about once a year.
Youd think Id get smart, forget about golf,
Just go along and drink beer.

By David Kragnes

ts easy in the winter to plan big. Its easy to think somehow those
long days in June can never be overfilled. And July why, July
has no harvest or planting, so there will be plenty of time to read a
book in a hammock as well as learn something new that challenges.
Perhaps its a carryover from my school days when the long days
of summer allowed such a wonderful change for this boy who felt
trapped indoors. The summer days I remember seemed long enough
to get almost anything done; and so, well, I dont think twice about
promising to host the whole family at the lake for a weekend. The
local clubs I belong to are holding a special event? No problem, the
sun is up 18 hours, I can farm early and help out. Grind some
stumps and re-landscape the yard? Easy. Move a shed, build a bin,
stain the house, weed the garden? No problem.
Suddenly the calendar is full and the grandkids T-ball games
arent yet listed. Wednesday night motorcycle runs havent been
accounted for, the harsh reality of grain harvest is looming, and I
havent been fishing.
Golf hasnt been mentioned yet because for the most part I dont
like golf. But the local sugarbeet groups I have been a part of for so
long always schedule a couple rounds each summer. I make at least
one event just to see friends I have worked with and catch up on
whats going on in their lives. It is always a humbling experience.

Bear because they had a nice problem:

Our yields had increased, and we
werent able to make a full round with
the harvester, Jim explains.
Soil compaction also is reduced by
the wide flotation tires on the Tiger
harvester, the Roggenbucks point out.
The offset positioning of the units
three axles likewise lessens compaction
by spreading tire contact and machine
weight over a broader soil zone.
Jim notes that since the Maus
cleans while loading, Helena Valley
Farms beets are hauled direct to the
factory, not to a company piling site.
The beets are a lot easier to clean up
after sitting on the headlands for two
days, he affirms.
The Roggenbucks have been very
pleased with the topping and digging
performance of both Tiger self-propelled harvesters. Though there are a
lot of components the electrical and

THE SUGARBEET GROWER July/August 2011

Each year I give him a new chance

To make me look just like a fool.
I dont even have the right kind of shirt.
And Mike, well, hes always dressed cool.
Some guys seem to think golfing
Is a sociable summertime sport.
But those guys dont drive the ball seven times,
Then three putt and still come up short.
I concentrate on my backswing
Til the sweats beaded up on my brow.
And yet when Ive swung, Ive missed the ball clean
Or dug a deep trench like a plow.
Though Mike would never make fun of
My complete lack of golfing finesse,
Waiting for me, lost in the trees,
Surely must cause him some stress.
Mike says the score aint important.
But once more like clockwork he wins.
I add up the strokes, then grovel and whine.
Mike, well, he stands there and grins.

David Kragnes farms near Felton, Minn. He is a former

chairman of American Crystal Sugar Co., and currently
serves on the board of directors of CoBank.

hydraulic systems are complex in

eight years, weve made no modifications, Jim reports.
They also like the digging shoe
(compared to pinch wheels on standard
lifters) and depth control offered by the
Tiger. We can control the depth as we
move across the field, Doug notes.
The header floats independently of the
main unit, following the contours of the
ground. It works on the same principle
as the flex head on a grain combine.
The system allows on the go adjustment from the cab of both topping and
lifting mechanisms.
Beet cleaning starts with the grab
rolls located on the header unit. The
beets are then conveyed on to three
cleaning turbines (baskets), whose
spinning speed can be adjusted from
the cab. Theyre then transported into
the Tigers beet tank, which holds
about 25 tons. Don Lilleboe

Below: The Roggenbucks welcomed

nearly 300 visitors to their farm in the fall
of 2003 to witness the first U.S. beet field
being harvested with a Ropa Tiger.

Photo: Debbie Roggenbuck

Write
Field

Humility on the
Golf Course

13

Energy Beets
Will a New Biofuels Sector Soon
Spring Up Across North Dakota?

he only parts of North Dakota

where youll find commercial sugarbeet fields are in the Red River Valley along the states eastern edge and
in the Mon-Dak vicinity of northwestern North Dakota. The crop has never
been grown commercially anywhere
else in the Peace Garden State.
But theres a good chance it will be,
one day soon.
If and when that comes to pass,
however, the new population of
North Dakota sugarbeet growers will
not be producing beets for sugar. Instead, theyll be raising them for energy specifically, for processing and
use as biofuels.
For the past three years, an entity
called Green Vision Group (GVG) has
been investigating and promoting the
development of an energy beet industry in the Northern Plains. The endeavor has had two primary goals: (1)
to help lower societys carbon footprint,
and (2) to simultaneously feed rural
economic development in the region.
Current principals in GVG are three
North Dakotans with a long history of
entrepreneurship and community development: Maynard Helgaas of West

Monopill SE

Fargo, Lloyd Anderson of Fargo, and

Rod Holth of Grand Forks. Helgaas,
who owned a farm implement dealership in Jamestown for three decades, is
GVGs president. (The groups website
address is www.beetsallbiofuel.com.)
The stakes are potentially very
high. Under the Energy Independence
and Security Act
(EISA) of 2007,
fuel produced from
sugarbeets qualifies as an advanced biofuel
and EISA mandates the national
production of 15
billion gallons of
Maynard Helgaas
advanced biofuels
annually by 2022. Concurrently, the
economic development impact in those
areas where such biofuels end up
being produced is obviously huge.
Key to the GVG vision has been its
partnership with North Dakota State
University and with Muscatine, Iowabased Heartland Renewable Energy.
To date, this partnership has produced
a major economic feasibility study, conducted energy beet yield trials in sev-

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14

eral locations around North Dakota,

and commercially tested a process
(patented by Heartland) that uses a coproduct of energy beets (stillage) to
provide up to 70% of a biofuel plants
thermal needs. Theyve also initiated
juice storage research at NDSU to enable year-round processing and plant
utilization, and are currently working
to attain EPAs formal approval of the
beet-origin ethanol as an advanced
biofuel.
While they dont view energy beets
as a competitor to ethanol made from
corn, GVG does emphasize a primary
advantage of fuel produced from this
feedstock: We can grow almost twice
as much ethanol, per acre, as you can
with corn, says Helgaas. That obviously reduces the amount of land required to grow an equivalent amount
of energy fuel.
Another advantage of sugarbeets is
that the processing regimen is simpler.
With corn, Helgaas notes, the feedstocks starches must first be broken
down into sugars before ethanol can be
produced. With sugarbeets, that step
is unnecessary.
So the bottom line is a reduced unit
cost to convert the raw commodity into
ethanol.
Released in July 2010, the energy
beet economic feasibility study was
conducted by NDSU biofuel economist
Cole Gustafson and his colleague,
Thein Maung. Gustafson, who has
worked closely with Green Vision
Group for the past three years, says
the analysis showed the estimated
breakeven ethanol price for a 20-million-gallon-per-year (MGY) energy
beet/ethanol plant to be $1.52 per gallon; for a 10-million-gallon plant, it
was $1.71 per gallon. At an ethanol
price of $1.84 per gallon, and assuming
other factors remain unchanged, the
estimated net present value of the 20
MGY plant is $41.54 million, the
NDSU economists reported.
Over the past year, of course, the
energy cost picture has changed significantly. Market prices of feedstocks
(sugarbeets and corn) are higher than
they were when the report was being
researched and written. So too is the
cost of petroleum-based energy. But
the difference were interested in is
the margin, Gustafson points out.
And that remains about the same. I
still see [beets as biofuel] as being a
very profitable alternative. We should
be able to compete quite well in the
marketplace.
To qualify as an advanced biofuel,
the product must produce at least 50%
fewer emissions than petroleum.

THE SUGARBEET GROWER July/August 2011

hat major hurdles remain before

North Dakota could have an operating beet-to-ethanol plant and
what timeline appears realistic, assuming those hurdles can be cleared?
Phase I of the GVG plan, now complete, was comprised of the 2010 economic feasibility study, the testing of
the Heartland-patented process to create thermal energy from waste material, and the initiation of energy beet
yield trials. (See article on page 17.)
All those components resulted in very
encouraging findings.
Phase II, now underway, will likely
take one and a half to two years, according to Gustafson. Hopefully to be
bolstered by a $1 million potential
grant from the North Dakota Renewable Energy Council, its major components include:
Expanding the yield trials to additional locations this year to gain
more agronomic data and to build crop
insurance history so that when growers in a given area consider investing
in beets-to-biofuel, theyll have risk
management tools available to them.
Looking at additional juice storage technology. Though the results of
Phase I juice storage research were
positive, we want to take it a step further, Gustafson says. Our goal is to
be able to process the beets in the fall,
develop thick juice and then store
that through the winter months so our
plants can operate year-round.
Front-end processing technology.
Whereas the traditional beet sugar industry slices beets entering the factory
and then heats the resulting cossettes
in a diffuser to extract the sucrose, the
energy beet model takes a different approach. We dont need the degree of
refinement (i.e., removal of impurities)

Attaining EPA designation

of sugarbeet-origin ethanol
as an advanced biofuel
is key to the establishment
of an energy beet industry.
THE SUGARBEET GROWER July/August 2011

NDSU biofuel economist Cole Gustafson

holds jars containing liquid stillage (left),
obtained from the bottom of the fermentation tank, and the dried powder (right) for
burning in the beets-to-ethanol plant.
that beet sugar factories do, Gustafson explains. So were looking at extrusion and grinding methods as a
way of separating the sugar from the
pulp.
Pursuing EPA designation of sugarbeet-origin ethanol as an advanced
biofuel. While there are no up-front
guarantees, were very confident of
attaining that status, Gustafson says.
Thats going to be a real key to our
project, he emphasizes. Thats the
driver in all this.
Phase III would be the actual construction of the first commercial beetto-ethanol plant in North Dakota.
Maynard Helgaas expects it to be a 20MGY facility, given the positive economics compared to a smaller plant.
He also expects it to be located next to
an existing corn ethanol facility or
electricity generating plant. Co-locating reduces our investment significantly, he points out. We can use the
same railroad tracks or spurs, we can
buy their steam and they can buy
our waste product (stillage) and burn
it with their coal. If co-located with a
corn ethanol plant, there also could be
sharing opportunities with respect to
distillation, marketing services and
environmental permitting processes,
Gustafson adds.
Right now, $50 million including
$10 million in operating capital is
the ballpark number Green Vision
Group projects will be needed to get a
20-MGY plant up and operating. Assuming that flagship plant gets off to a
good start and the biofuels sector as a
whole is healthy and growing, Helgaas
envisions several similar facilities one
day dotting the North Dakota land-

scape. Were looking at having plants

where [the grower] wont have to haul
the beets over 10 miles, he says. The
idea is to have 30,000 acres of beets
per year within that 20-mile-diameter
circle to feed the plant. To maintain
reduced carbon emissions and qualify
as an advanced biofuel, we need to
maintain production within that 10mile perimeter of the refinery, Helgaas states.
No energy beet production and processing operations are planned within
the Red River Valley, GVGs president
adds, so as to not infringe upon the existing sugarbeet industrys need for
sufficient acreage, including any future
expansion. GVG is also emphasizing
the need for energy beet growers to follow four- to five-year crop rotations to
reduce the risk of disease buildup.
s positive as the research and development efforts have been to
date, theres still plenty of uncertainty
surrounding the young energy beet
sector. Cole Gustafson uses the word
mixed when asked for adjectives to
describe the economic and political climate for energy beet biofuels as of
Summer 2011.
Theres a lot of momentum in the
project, a lot of optimism on several
fronts, the NDSU economist affirms.
Last years yield trials were very positive, and theyre looking good again
this year. The research weve done on
economic feasibility, on juice storage
and on the patented technology are all
more positive than wed expected.
On the other side, though, theres
the national recession and the difficulty of getting financing. All projects
are facing that right now.
Another difficulty is the current
national discussion about ethanol and
tax credits. That has cast a cloud
even though we dont include any of
those kinds of subsidies in our financial analyses. Were often lumped into

15

Photo: Don Lilleboe

(Corn produces 20% less.) Add to that

the intent for energy beet plants to
burn their own waste (the stillage
produced during fermentation) for processing and heating, and that number
could climb up toward 60%, Helgaas
believes. Along with the stillage, other
co-products will be a brewers yeast,
pulp for livestock feed, and potash left
over after the stillage is burned. The
potash could be utilized as a fertilizer.

California Group Also Explores Beets as Biofuel

other consultants also are involved with the project.
The co-op applied for and received a $72,000 USDA
value-added product grant for an initial feasibility study,
which was completed in mid-2009. Then, in 2010, the
Mendota group applied for and was awarded a $1.5 millong with North Dakota, energy beets also are receivlion competitive matching grant from the California Ening close attention in several other states and esergy Commission to further examine the viability of
pecially in the Central Valley of California. There, the
processing sugarbeets, as well as farm waste products
research and development catalyst has been Mendota
(e.g., almond orchard prunings), for fuel and energy.
Bioenergy LLC, a group comprised of former Spreckels
The goal is to build a biorefinery that will utilize beSugar Company growers from Fresno County. Also worktween 840,000 to one million-plus tons of locally grown
ing on the project are various university water/energy/
sugarbeets each year, along with another 80,000 tons of
biomass specialists and several companies with experialmond prunings and other agricultural waste. From
ence in biofuels engineering and development.
those feedstocks, Mendota Bioenergy expects to produce
The Mendota biorefinery effort got rolling in 2008
33.5 million gallons of advanced ethanol, 6.3 megawatts
after Spreckels Sugar (owned by Southern Minnesota
Beet Sugar Co-op) announced its beet factory there would of certified green electricity, 1.6 million/million cubic feet
of renewable biomethane, and high-nutrient compost and
be closed. Area growers initially looked into the possibilliquid fertilizer. The biorefinery also is expected to reity of buying the factory and continuing to grow and
process beets for sugar, but decided that was not feasible. claim one million gallons of treated water per day, which
in turn will be used for the facilitys operations.
As an alternative, the newly formed Mendota Advanced
Work on the $1.5 million matching grant began [in]
Bioenergy Beet Cooperative began investigating whether
April 2011 and is scheduled to be completed in January
energy beets could have a future in Fresno County. John
2013, Tischer notes. This current phase includes explorDiener, a longtime sugarbeet grower from Five Points,
ing the projects technical feasibility, economic viability
was the cooperatives founding president. Jim Tischer of
and environmental impacts. Specific areas of exploration
the California Water Institute at Cal State-Fresno serves
include the assessment of feedstock material properties,
as project coordinator. Former Spreckels employees and
development of integrated biomass processing and conBelow: Schematic of the proposed Mendota biorefinery process. version technologies, pilot-scale digester operations,
and analyzing life-cycle environmental impacts and
sustainability. Other work will focus on economic
areas, such as a production sales and distribution
plan, agreements for the use of the renewable energy,
low-carbon and water-wise products, and the establishment of a Best Management Practices program
framework for beet growers and others providing
feedstocks to the biorefinery.
If the project still appears feasible upon completion of the above work, full development, financing
and construction on the $200 million Mendota biorefinery would then proceed. If not, well all go back to
our day jobs, Tischer says. In an ideal world, we
would proceed with full development in 2013 and construction and startup in 2014. Construction is not,
however, pre-ordained in todays problematic project
finance environment. Don Lilleboe

Mendota Bioenergy Leadership Group

Includes Former Spreckels Sugar Growers

2010 / Mendota Advanced Bioenergy

Beet Cooperative / Used By Permission

it, though were a very different biofuel

with a different market opportunity.
Todays high prices for corn, soybeans, wheat and other ag commodities also factor into the equation.
Gustafson says there are geographic
pockets in North Dakota where farmer
interest in energy beets is very high.
In fact, we had more requests from
producers to have yield trials on their
property this year than we can manage, he notes. But current crop prices
have muted the interest from other potential energy beet producers who
dont see the need to add another crop
when the ones theyre already growing

16

are so profitable and familiar.

Adequate grower participation is
key not only from the feedstock production standpoint, but in the ownership arena as well. We call ourselves
architects for rural development,
Maynard Helgaas emphasizes. We
would like to see farmer ownership [of

Adequate grower participation

is key not only from the feedstock production standpoint,
but also in the ownership arena.

beets-to-biofuel] plants to some level

at least 40%.
So as always, time will tell when
it comes to whether a commercial energy beet enterprise takes root in the
Northern Plains and grows into a
healthy, vibrant industry. Theres a lot
going on, with many positive signs.
There also are clouds of uncertainty,
both economic and political. Green Vision Group and its partners continue
to forge ahead, with the hope and the
expectation that their efforts will pay
off handsomely for both the regions
rural economy and the nations renewable energy needs. Don Lilleboe

THE SUGARBEET GROWER July/August 2011

Energy Beet
Agronomics

Photo: Blaine Schatz

2010 N.D. Yield Trials Demonstrate Productivity;

Seed Companies Lay Groundwork With Special Varieties

hen a commercial Above: A 2010 irrigated energy Group, North Dakota

energy beet indus- beet plot at the North Dakota State University is now
try does takes root and
in its third year of yield
State University Carrington
grow in North Dakota,
trials, testing under
Research Extension Center.
it will do so in areas
both dryland and irrioutside the traditional
gated conditions. Some
beet belt. Beets for biofuel will be
sugarbeet seed companies likewise are
grown in locales where farmers have a
heavily involved in testing their curlong history of wheat, barley and sunrent materials and breeding new variflower production, not sugarbeets.
eties for the biofuel industry.
That means therell be a learning
The 2010 North Dakota yield trials
curve. Although a lot of sugarbeet
produced some impressive data.
knowledge can be transferred from the Heres a summary of the results, proRed River Valley or the Mon-Dak area
vided by Blaine Schatz, director/agronof northwestern North Dakota/northomist at the NDSU Carrington
eastern Montana, a grower in central
Research Extension Center and coordiNorth Dakota needs some specialized
nator of the trials. Syngenta/Hilleshog
information geared to his environment was the seed company collaborator at
and he also needs specialized beet
Carrington and Oakes, while Betaseed
seed varieties that are designed for a
was the collaborator at Williston,
biofuel end use, not for the refined
Dazey and Turtle Lake.
sugar marketplace.
Carrington Carrington is loRecognizing that, research is well
cated in central North Dakota. Trials
underway to develop varieties and
at the NDSU center there were concompile agronomic data for the enviducted under both dryland and irrisioned energy beet production sector.
gated conditions. Sixteen different
In conjunction with the Green Vision
varieties were tested in 2010. The

THE SUGARBEET GROWER July/August 2011

mean root yield in the dryland plots

was 25.2 tons per acre, with an average sugar content of 19.2%.
Corresponding numbers in the irrigated plots were 37.8 tons and 18.5%
sugar.
Oakes Oakes is in Dickey
County of southeastern North Dakota.
The 16 varieties tested under irrigation in 2010 at the NDSU Oakes station averaged 37.4 tons per acre with a
17.8% sugar.
Williston Located in northwestern North Dakota, NDSUs Williston station tested five energy beet
varieties under irrigation in 2010. The
average yield was 29.7 tons per acre,
with sugar content averaging 17.7%.
Dazey Dazey is in east central
North Dakotas Barnes County. Both
irrigated and dryland trials were conducted on the farm of cooperator Jim
Broten. Dryland yields averaged 31.7
tons; irrigated, 35.5 tons per acre.
Sugar content of the dryland energy
beets averaged 16.8%; for the irrigated
plots, 18.3%.
Turtle Lake Turtle Lake is in
central North Dakota, about 50 miles
north of the states capital city, Bismarck. Five varieties were grown
under irrigation on the farm of cooperator Steve Knorr. They averaged 25.9
tons and 18.0% sugar.
In terms of sugar per acre, the top
variety across all trial sites produced
16,044 pounds in an irrigated plot at
Carrington. That plot yielded 43.1
tons per acre with an 18.6% sugar content.
Yield trials have again been established in 2011 at the above locations,
along with two more: a dryland trial at
Langdon in Cavalier County (northeastern North Dakota) and another
dryland trial at Minot (Ward County,
in the north central part of the state).
he bottom line with the yield trials
to date is that very respectable
yields and sugar contents can be
achieved throughout North Dakota.
It should be noted that the performance of the energy beets at both the
Turtle Lake and Williston locations
[was] somewhat compromised by lessthan-optimum planting date or harvest date, Schatz reports. Optimum
dates would have likely resulted in an
additional three to six tons per acre at
both these locations. The 2010 yield
trials also underscored that, just like
regular sugarbeets, energy beet varieties respond differently from location
to location.
Syngenta and Betaseed have been
breeding for the energy beet market

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We understand that energy

beets will require different growing and quality characteristics
than a conventional sugarbeet.
We are breeding for those traits.
for quite some time. Both have European parent organizations, and Europe
has a longer history in this arena than
does the United States. KWS (Betaseeds parent) has been breeding for
energy crops and energy beets for over
10 years, says Steve Libsack, director
of business development and strategic
accounts for Betaseed. We understand that energy beets will require
different growing and quality characteristics than a conventional sugarbeet. We are breeding for those traits,
as well as breeding varieties that can
be grown in many more climates
around the world everything from
drought regions to tropical regions.
Trent Wimmer, business development manager for Syngenta/Hilleshog,
explains that impurity levels are a key
difference between beets bred for energy use versus beets bred to produce

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sugar for human consumption. Today,

most sugar processors have impurity
standards in place and demand highquality varieties with low impurity
levels, he observes. These impurities
dont allow the sucrose to crystallize,
and the sugar is lost to molasses.
That then equates to lost revenue for
the processor.
For energy production, these same
impurities dont hinder fermentation
or digestion, Wimmer continues, so it
really opens up the possibilities for variety selection. It allows us to bring in
performance and yield options.
At the end of the day, though, we
still need the sugar. So sugar per acre
is a key driver.
Biotech seed has allowed us to decrease the learning curve for a new
grower, Wimmer points out. Flexibility with weed control allows us to focus
on other important agronomics, such
as soil preparation, plantability and
disease control. We spend a good portion of time on seed-to-soil contact and
seed depth and spacing, with the goal
of establishing a good stand.
Growers in new beet areas will
certainly be faced with some challenges. There would be the investment in a sugarbeet harvester,

Energy beet processing doesnt

require the low impurity levels
needed by regular beet sugar
processors. But at the end of
the day, we still need the sugar.
individually or in a group; altered crop
rotations, requiring special attention
to herbicide carryover and insecticide
usage; fertilization; and, in general,
the risks involved in growing an unfamiliar crop. It certainly wont fit into
every growers operation in nontraditional beet growing regions, says Betaseeds Libsack. But there will be
fantastic opportunity for many.
That said, no one disputes the uncertainty that exists as of 2011. Were
still in the fact finding stage, Libsack
affirms. But once weve proven that
beets can be economically and feasibly
grown for [ethanol] production and
at a lower cost than corn I can see
the industry moving ahead very
quickly. I firmly believe that whoever
builds the first plant utilizing beets
will be breaking ground for a quick-todevelop industry. Don Lilleboe

THE SUGARBEET GROWER July/August 2011

Around The Industry

John Richmond Honored As
Sugar Man of the Year 2010

RRV Sugarbeet Museum Hosting

7th Harvest Festival on Sept. 11

John Richmond, former president

and CEO of Southern Minnesota Beet
Sugar Cooperative, was honored as
Sugar Man of the Year 2010 during a
May luncheon of the Sugar Club in
New York City.
Richmond is the 53rd recipient of
the prestigious Dyer Memorial Award,
named after the
founder of B.W.
Dyer & Company,
a 108-year-old brokerage company
for sweeteners and
other foods.
Richmonds
nearly four-decade
career in the sugar
John Richmond
industry began as
a management trainee with Holly
Sugar Corporation in 1973. He held
several positions with Holly (later Imperial Holly), including vice president
of operations and later managing director of Imperial Holly, in which post he
was in charge of 11 beet sugar factories
and cane sugar refining operations.
The Kearney, Neb., native became
president/CEO of Southern Minnesota
Beet Sugar Cooperative in 2001, guiding the company until his retirement in
2008. That tenure included Southern
Minns purchase of Holly, thereby providing the Minnesota co-op with additional marketing allocations.
Richmond thus also became president/CEO of Holly, which was renamed
Spreckels Sugar.
Richmond, who graduated with a
degree in chemistry from Kearney
State College, served as president of
the American Society of Sugar Beet
Technologists, the Sugar Processing Research Institute and the United States
National Committee on Sugar Analysis.
He also was an instructor at the
McGinnis Institute of Beet Sugar Technology.
Although you retired in 2008 and
reside in Colorado Springs with your
wife, Sharon, you remain active in the
sugar industry as an advisor to the cooperative, read Richmonds Sugar Club
citation. Your reputation as a sound
thinker is widely respected, and your
good humor is legendary.

The Red River Valley Sugarbeet

Museum celebrates its 7th annual Harvest Festival on Sunday, September 11.
The museum is located on the southeast side of Crookston, Minn., at the
former Crookston Implement site.
The festival begins at 11:00 a.m.,
with a roast pork dinner starting at
11:30. Sugarbeets will be harvested
with vintage equipment, with wagons
provided so the public can ride alongside the old-time harvesters and view
the operation. New this year will be a
restored Harvall beet harvester, built
at the American Crystal factory in East
Grand Forks, Minn.
The 2011 Harvest Festival also will
honor Al Bloomquist, well known to
everyone in the Upper Midwest sugarbeet industry. Bloomquist was instrumental in Red River Valley growers
purchase of American Crystal Sugar
Company in the early 1970s, later serving as vice president and president of
the cooperative prior to his retirement.
For more information on the Red
River Valley Sugarbeet Museum and
this years Harvest Festival, visit
www.sugarbeetmuseum.com.

THE SUGARBEET GROWER July/August 2011

and harvesting systems for sugarbeets

and dry edible beans, two of western
Nebraskas major irrigated crops.
Smith became involved in testing
sugarbeet planters for growers, prior to
the planting season, during the mid1990s when he and a colleague developed an electronic planter test stand.
That gave us the ability to measure
planter performance with numbers as
opposed to a visual subjective view of
the planter, he
noted.
Smith also
worked on transplanting of sugarbeets and helped
develop planter
improvements for
their use with this
crop. In recent
John Smith
years, he also conducted research on zone (strip) till production of row crops, which has
expanded considerably in the region.
Among his many outreach activities
have been Smiths valuable contributions to The Sugarbeet Grower both
as an author of research results and as
a resource person for other articles.
After growing up on a farm in Ohio,
Smith earned a bachelors degree in
mechanical engineering from Tri State
College in Angola, Ind. He worked for
six years as a design engineer before returning to school, receiving a masters
degree in agricultural engineering from
the University of Wyoming. After two
years with Parma Company, he joined
the UN Panhandle station in 1981.

50th International Sugarbeet

Institute Set for March 14 & 15
John Smith Retires After 30-Year
Career at UN Panhandle Center
John Smith, well-known machinery
systems engineer at the University of
Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center, retired at the end of
June after a 30-year career with the
university. During his three-decade
tenure in the Panhandle, he worked extensively with machinery manufacturers, farmers, commodity groups and his
university peers to improve farm machinery systems for field production of
crops particularly tillage, planting

The 2012 International Sugarbeet

Institute is scheduled for March 14 and
15 at the Alerus Center in Grand
Forks, N.D. Next years event marks
the 50th anniversary of ISBI the
largest sugarbeet industry trade show
in North America.
Companies desiring preliminary exhibiting information for the 2012 International Sugarbeet Institute can
contact exhibits coordinator Bob Cournia at (218) 281-4681. Other ISBI-related inquiries should be directed to Dr.
Mohamed Khan, organizing committee
chairman, at (701) 231-8596.

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