Red River Valley sugar beet harvest begins

After a month of preliminary digging, the American Crystal Sugar Co. beet harvest was scheduled to begin full tilt at midnight Tuesday, meaning hundreds of big trucks will be rumbling over roads up and down the Red River Valley. The “stockpile” harvest start was moved up one day from its traditional first minute of Oct. 1 because of forecasts for rain Thursday and Friday, according to the company’s Web site late Tuesday.