When the first freeze of the fall happens, it is usually a sign to beet farmers to step up their harvest efforts and get the remainder of their beets out of the ground. But because of the severity and the long duration of the cold snap that began on Oct. 9 and continued for several days in the region, farmers are waiting in limbo with quotas limiting the amount of beets they are allowed to bring to the Western Sugar Factory in Lovell for immediate processing.
Weather conditions improved last week, with temperatures in the mid-70s, helping beets to start to grow again and regenerate themselves. But as the beets send energy to re-grow damaged tops, they lose sugar content, according to Lovell farmer Bob Martens.
The beets could begin producing more sugar if there was enough time left in the growing season. The weather looks good now, but it will likely get cold by the end of the month, Martens said.
“That won’t help us,” he said, adding that rain would also slow down the harvest. “It would make it much muddier. Many people are barely getting in the fields now. Rain would just stop them again.”
Martens said he has dug up some beets and delivered them to the Lovell factory on two occasions since the freeze. He said the WS management has put growers on a five-day rolling quota that allows them to bring in 1.2 percent of their contracted acreage. He brought in that amount once last week and again on Sunday when WS allowed farmers who finished their first quota early received another quota because of expected rain. He said he expects the management will announce if they are able to accept additional amounts of beets around Friday.
Though it is not an ideal situation for farmers or the Lovell processing factory, Martens said he thinks management is being as fair as they can be with the quota limits.
Martens said he has purchased multiple peril crop insurance every year since 1962, when a hailstorm devastated his uninsured crop. That financial loss took about seven years to recoup, he said. Multiple peril insurance covers a portion of crop loss for a number of different tragedies including hail, drought and freezing, he said.
Powell Farm Bureau Insurance Agent Larry French said there are 72 beet farmers with policies from Farm Bureau in Carbon County, Mont., and Park County and Big Horn County, Wyo. The company insures other types of crops as well.
Farmers can choose insurance policies that cover from 50 percent of a grower’s historical average up to 85 percent, French said. The most common coverage is about 75 percent, he said, guessing that about 30 percent of growers don’t have any crop insurance.
Insurance will help farmers recoup some of their losses, but it’s a bad year to utilize the insurance because of the year’s expected bumper crop. Because insurance payments are based on a 10-year average of a farmer’s crop size, most farmers will receive significantly less than the percentage in their insurance coverage because of the current crop’s high value, French said. In other words, if a farmer has 80 percent coverage, insurance might only pay 50 percent of their expected yield for this season. Insurance payments are determined using the government-set price for beets, at $43 per ton, which is also lower than what growers can actually get for harvested beets, he said.
“Even with good quality insurance, some growers will only have 35 to 40 percent coverage because the (actual) price is higher than insurance coverage and the yield is higher than they’ve ever had before,” he said.
French said he has contacted every grower insured by his company in the past weeks to discuss their options and some farmers have made claims.
Western Sugar Plant Manager Phil Hackman said beets were recently reported frozen in every area that supplies the Lovell factory except some places around Cody, where snow partially insulated beets through the freeze.
Starting the harvest early on Sept. 18 was a blessing, Hackman said, because the regular harvest was only going for a few days before the cold snap happened.
Hackman said the focus of the factory crew is to keep things running smoothly to get as many beets processed as possible as farmers bring in their quota of beets straight to the factory for processing. The frozen beets can be processed, but they cannot be stored in piles, he said.
The factory has been running efficiently though some extra beet tops are coming in and sometimes clog machinery, he said. Hackman said his thoughts and prayers are with the farmers and he hopes the cold weather will hold off to allow for the best possible campaign given the situation.
Martens said he is afraid that some of the crop will be left in the ground because limiting quotas will prolong the harvest into November when it usually gets cold. Once the winter freeze sets in to stay, harvest time is over.
“It’s sad that we could lose this crop, probably the best one we’ve ever raised in Wyoming,” Martens said. “But now it might be an average year or maybe not quite that well. We have to hope for the best.”