Case IH Early Riser plants 36 rows with 22-inch spacing, getting sugar beets a fast start. HEY SUGAR! Planting Delay Up to a Month Seen Caused by Cold Weather
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Mid-Michigan sugar beet growers may not get their planting done this year until late April, with nearly a month's delay caused by cold weather and a wet spring.
Last year all the sugar beets were planted before the end of March, just about the time factory slicing the previous crop yield normally is finished. Refineries run non-stop from the fall harvest until the next planting time.
Rebecca Williams of Michigan Radio, in a recent broadcast, commented: "If machines were to stop in the middle of the process, sticky molasses would harden inside the equipment.
"In the end, the sugar beets become white granular sugar, powdered sugar, or brown sugar. If you've bought a bag of sugar at a Michigan grocery store, chances are its sugar beet sugar from the Michigan Sugar Company."
Locally-owned Michigan Sugar Co. has approximately 1,000 grower-owners who plant about 160,000 acres of beets annually in 19 Michigan counties and Ontario.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Ag Statistics Report, released March 31, shows that the number of acres devoted to sugar beets is expected to be down nationally, while the acreage of oil sunflowers is projected to rise.
The Michigan sugar industry now is rolling along well, reports Michigan Radio, Ann Arbor. But twenty years ago, the industry was near collapse, said Steve Poindexter, a sugar beet specialist with Michigan State University:
"The sugar industry, back in the '90s, was struggling, trying to get production up. The yields were down and not going up, and profitability was very low."
That was the result of an attempt to raise beets with higher sugar content that failed, he said. Low yields caused many farmers to stop growing beets. Things got so bad Michigan sugar beet farmers were granted almost $20 million in federal disaster funds.
As a result MSU and the Michigan sugar industry formed a partnership to reinvigorate the sugar beet industry. Since then the number of sugar beets grown per acre has doubled and the amount of sugar harvested from each beet has risen.
The United States beet sugar industry has experienced great change in the last three decades. A total of 10 beet processors operated 53 factories in 18 states in 1973 while nine companies operated only 36 factories in the United States in 1990.
The recent history of sugar production in the area is one of cooperation and consolidation, as told in the company history: "In 2004, Monitor Sugar Company was offered for sale by its parent company, Illovo Sugar Company of Durban, South Africa. The Monitor Sugar Beet Growers Association initially hoped to acquire the company much in the same manner the Michigan Sugar growers purchased that company from Imperial Sugar Company two years earlier. However, careful analysis suggested a different route. Monitor's growers and Michigan Sugar Company joined forces and bought the Bay City factory on Oct. 1, 2004.
"Now, the two companies who for most of the 20th century viewed each other as fierce competitors were one grower-owned cooperative: Michigan Sugar Company."
(Note: A fine history of the Monitor Sugar Company, "Sweet Energy," written by Thomas Mahar was published by the company in 2000 and is available at the Bay County Historical Museum.)
The story of how the sugar beet added incredible energy to Michigan's economy goes back 175 years and has important roots in the east central Michigan region.
In 1839, west Michigan potato grower Lucius Lyon decided he could transfer his talents to the planting of the sugar beet. "His growing project was successful, but the manufacturing system was not," commented the Michigan Sugar Company's history of the industry.
Once a viable industry was established, sugar beets were grown in 26 states. About 1,400,000 acres were produced in 14 states in 1990. Minnesota and North Dakota produced about 550,000 acres. Other leading sugarbeet states are Idaho, California, Michigan, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Texas.
Canada produces sugarbeets in Manitoba and Alberta. Russia leads worldwide production of sugarbeets with nearly 8,500,000 acres followed by Poland, France, West Germany and Turkey with about 1,000,000 acres each.
Sugar beets are used primarily for production of sucrose, a high energy pure food. Man's demand for sweet foods is universal. Honey was the main sweetener for primitive man. Trade in sugar from sugarcane can be traced to primitive times too. The sugar beet was recognized as a plant with valuable sweetening properties in the early 1700s.
Sucrose from sugar beets is the principal use for sugarbeets in the United States. Sugar beets contain from 13 to 22 percent sucrose. Sucrose is used widely as a pure high energy food or food additive. High fiber dietary food additives are manufactured from sugar beet pulp and major food processors in the United States have used these dietary supplements in recently introduced new products including breakfast cereals.
Sugar beet pulp and molasses are processing by-products widely used as feed supplements for livestock.
Beet tops (leaves and petioles) also can be used as silage. Beet top silage is best fed in combination with other feeds.
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