06/11/08 Reduction in sugarbeet acreage

The Amalgamated Sugar Company is in a different kind of a year. For a grower owned co-operative that likes to have at least 165 to 170 thousand acres of sugarbeets in Idaho, eastern Oregon and eastern Washington they are well below that. Amalgamated's John Schorr puts this year's crop at 124 thousand acres, a 31 percent decline from last year's 180 thousand acres. There are two main reasons for that. SCHORR "Wind and blowing the beets out and also frost and it was just a cold spring and it caused some of the damage that we experienced. The other one is the high value of the commodity crops, prices paid for wheat, corn and potatoes." Schorr says they have had what he calls 'our share of replants.' Even with that low acreage he says all three processing plants in Nampa, Twin Falls and Paul will be operating later this year after the harvest. SCHORR "Shorter seasons and we'll be doing some belt tightening. We do that in different situations too. As we look at the numbers we'll move through it and still have a good profitable year for the growers." Nationwide sugarbeet acreage this spring is down and weather has been a factor in that decline outside Idaho. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott