Beet farmers in the Lovell Western Sugar factory district have been permitted to bring in a few extra quotas of sugar beets this week in preparation to a winter storm that was expected to hit the region mid-week.
Ric Rodriguez, a Park County beet farmer and vice president of the Western Sugar Cooperative Board of Directors, said the factory is accepting two additional quotas of beets this week. Each quota amounts to 1.2 tons of beets per acre under contract with Western Sugar. Farmers have been limited to one quota per week since a cold snap hit the area three weeks ago with temperatures in the teens for several days.
The additional quotas are being allowed this week because of the forecasted winter storm that could move through the region.  The extra quota beets are being stored in separate piles from beets harvested before the cold snap. The beets that were in the ground during the cold snap won’t store for more than three or four weeks before going bad, Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said he has seen loss of sugar content in his beets, and any beets that are repairing their tops following the freeze must use up some of the plant’s valuable sugar content to do so. He and the many other beet growers in the Lovell district are hoping for the cold weather to hold off so they can get as many beets out of the ground before the hard winter freeze.
Southbound
Wyoming Sugar Company in Worland recently signed an agreement with the Western Sugar Cooperative, allowing some growers to deliver beets to the Worland facility for processing, according to Glen Reed, president of the Big Horn Beet Grower’s Association.
Reed said any growers that wanted to opt in on the contract were allowed to and Tuesday was the first day they began hauling truckloads of beets to Wyoming Sugar receiving stations in Emblem and Worland.
Wyoming Sugar has initially agreed to take 21,000 tons of beets from growers in the Lovell district, and that number was split up among growers based on the number of acres they are contracted to grow for the Western Sugar Cooperative, Reed said. Out of 70 growers in the district, 31 elected to bring some of their beets to Wyoming Sugar, he said, mentioning that some might not want to participate because of distance issues and equipment issues that come with running trucks up to 90 miles each way to Worland.
Reed grows beets on his farm east of Cody and said even though the immediate weather forecast isn’t great, he plans to begin harvesting again in November after the front moves through.
“I’m hopeful of that, anyway,” he said. “Hopefully we have a mild winter and get more beets out. Every beet across the scale is better than a beet left in the ground.”
As of Monday, Reed said about 50 percent of the projected 24.5-ton crop had been harvested.
Reed said he thinks the deal with Wyoming Sugar could be a win-win situation for farmers trying to get their beets processed and the Worland facility. He said farmers in the Worland area have suffered some crop damage because of the early freeze, too, but the plant has some extra capacity to accommodate the Lovell growers.

In a letter dated Oct. 23, Governor Dave Freudenthal asked Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack for assistance in securing an agri-business disaster designation in four Wyoming counties: Big Horn, Park, Platte and Sheridan.
“Federal emergency assistance that attends a disaster declaration will certainly be helpful in providing some degree of much needed relief for the people of the affected area,” Freudenthal wrote.
“I am very aware of the economic hardship this kind of weather disaster can cause,” Freudenthal said. “If we can get this declaration, it will help.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will investigate the request; survey, assess and evaluate the damage claims; make a determination, and if deemed warranted under the department’s criteria, provide the appropriate assistance.