Early harvest began successfully on Tuesday, September 1 in the Magic Valley and Upper Snake regions. Early sugarbeet root yields are reported to be excellent and appear to be higher than our initial estimate of 39.9 tons per acre.

While early Beet Quality Lab sugar content results have indicated that the crop has suffered from recent hot, smoky weather conditions, sugar content is climbing steadily. With cooler weather in the forecast, Amalgamated Sugar staff is very optimistic that this year’s crop may be among the Company’s best.

“Early harvest in the Twin Falls district is off to a great start,” said Dave Scantlin, Twin Falls District Agriculture Manager. “The sugarbeets are coming in very clean with better than expected size. Yields are variable but on average better than expected. The factory is slicing excellent with better than expected throughput.”

“We are officially half-way through early harvest in the Mini-Cassia District and operations are running smoothly at the receiving stations and the factory,” said Brodie Griffin, Mini-Cassia District Agriculture Manager. “Yields have been average in the Mini-Cassia area and above average in the Upper Snake growing area.”

As of September 16, the companywide average cossette sugar percentage was 16.23%.