SIDNEY, Mont. — Spring 2020 brought Sidney Sugars enough moisture; we were able to plant in good sub moisture for most of the contract area. Planting began around April 12. Planting progressed rapidly due to favorable spring weather. Had good stands established, but we were seeing more windy days than in the past.
On May 10 and 11 we had low overnight temps recorded. This did result in acres having to be replanted, mostly in our northern more areas. Wind also blew some beets out too. Springtails were active across our entire growing region in the spring. We had below-normal precipitation for the entire crop growing season, our growers did a good job of irrigating on a timely, as needed, basis. Cercospora was also held in check due to minimal rain showers, thus having lower humidity.
Then on Sept. 7 and 8, we again had a frost/freeze event hit the area, lows down to 17 above. The initial thought was this may have set the sugar. Pre-pile started on Sept. 21, stockpile on Sept. 29. Harvest was completed on Oct. 22. Sugars ran well — we ended up averaging 19.21% for the entire district. Tons were 29.1 per acre with tare running 2.57%.
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