Weather challenges facing sugar beet farmers

AccuWeather

Sugar beets are the source of more than half of the U.S. sugar supply. North Dakota State's Eric Branch joins the AccuWeather Network to explain the weather challenges facing sugar beet growers.

Transcript

00:00and welcome back to acuweather early thanks for watching on this thursday morning now it's time

00:09for the agriculture advantage sugar beets are the source of more than half of america's sugar supply

00:22in today's acuweather agricultural advantage we're taking a look at this essential crop growing

00:28across the northern plains joining us is sugar beets specialist what a title at north dakota state

00:35university and the university of minnesota extension eric branch thanks so much for being

00:39with us this morning yeah thanks for having me happy to be here great we're happy to talk about

00:44some sugar beets about 60 percent of u.s sugar now comes from beets not cane what's the difference

00:52between these two sugar crop sources yeah at the simplest level sugar is sugar uh you know it's

00:59the same same sucrose whether it's from cane or beet sugar uh really you know as a consumer we would

01:05never be able to tell the difference um but what is really unique these crops are situated in different

01:10geographical regions um and they're they're really developed for for each region specifically right

01:17whether it's in the southeast where sugar cane is grown or or where i am in the in the upper northern

01:22midwest where sugar beets are grown and of course they can handle the cold weather and the shorter

01:26growing season and things like that so so these crops are are really uh really weather driven i might

01:31say right you know growing where they grow best and where where that advantage can be i have to ask you

01:36a question here up you know i we talk a lot about the corn uh product and how they're developing more

01:43more seeds that are drought resistant are we seeing those kind of advantages as well for sugar beets

01:51yeah you know the the sugar beet breeders are are hard working and and really working to develop

01:58uh varieties and and improve the genetics for these these crops so they can uh produce you know the more

02:04or uh the same or better sugar content uh despite challenges like drought and disease and uh the

02:11weather fluctuations and and things like that well we're seeing some video on our screen of it looks

02:17like the sugar beets can you describe how how big the sugar beet crop is and where do we find that

02:23sugar i'm sorry and where do we find that beet sugar in our everyday foods yeah so so nationally

02:29across the u.s there are about 1.1 million acres of sugar beets grown each year so so compared to

02:34corn and soybeans it's a very very small small crop in that regard um here in north dakota and

02:40minnesota where i'm located we have about 600 000 620 000 acres of sugar beets uh past couple years so

02:48really uh it's a huge part of our landscape in in in eastern north dakota western minnesota and um and

02:54has a big impact for for the economies here and how is in the grocery store sugar uh you know this is the

03:00same sugar that's uh sold wholesale to food manufacturers food food producers uh as as a sugar

03:06ingredient and also uh we can buy beet sugar directly um right off the shelf and how is this

03:14sugar beet harvest going and what kind of weather challenges have growers been dealing with uh as far

03:21as there's too much rain too much cold too early cold how has the weather impacted it yeah when i when

03:27i talked to my stakeholders sugar beet growers here here in the region variable has been my word right

03:32parts of the region had way too much rain i think as much as 33 inches since may 1st um which is way

03:40hugely i'm a way more than usual uh rain wise and and that's been a challenge uh throughout the year

03:45um and now as as sugar beets are getting harvested right right in our region um we want some dry weather

03:51some some conditions that allow the equipment to get into the fields and and get the beets out

03:55uh and of course when we have rain i have we're having some rain this week actually and and

04:00kind of does slow things down so so rain is a big difference we have plant diseases that that are

04:05affected by the rain more rain more disease more crop loss just just a a tougher situation in some

04:11places this year and really quickly we're talking with our um uh uh river expert alex cesnowski about

04:17the low water levels on the mississippi does a lot of the crop get transported uh down the mississippi

04:25the other parts of the country uh you know in terms of of what happens uh after the beet gets

04:32the factory you know there's there and after that processing and the marking set i i can't speak to

04:36that uh you know sugar is beets are trucked out of the factory and then uh loaded by by rail car of

04:42course uh from the factories to to uh the the wholesaler distribution hubs so um you know we're part of

04:49that same ecosystem for for crop transportation and and transporting these commodities across country too

04:54excellent answer to a tough question eric brand sugar beet specialist at north dakota state university

05:00and the university of minnesota extension we have learned so much about sugar beets uh thank you so

05:05much for joining us on accurate early thank you

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