01/13/09 State of the Union for sugar beets

I recently had a chance to visit with Mark Duffin, Executive Director, of the Idaho Sugarbeet Growers Association. Asked him several questions about the industry and what follows are some of his remarks. The first took me off guard as he was boxing up stuff in his office for a move. (Duffin) "Just into a smaller office space for budget cuts because of smaller beet crops." I had to hear an explanation for that one. (Duffin) "We had a good beat crop this year, we just had fewer acres, there was a lot of competition from other crops, such as wheat where the price was a lot higher, and then we had a very difficult spring where we lost about 17,000 acres of sugarbeets due to weather, freezing and blowing out, but the crop that was planted and grown, came out pretty good". What about last year's prices versus other crops? (Duffin) "Last year sugar prices were down and a lot of other commodities, corn and wheat and feed crops were up quite a bit, and that created a lot of competition for our acres. But those prices have fallen off and because of the decreased sugar supply, from the smaller crop in 2008, prices have strengthened up, there's a lag time there but now things are looking a little better for sugar prices." Since alternative energy's all the rage, what about sugar beets? (Duffin) "All the studies I've seen so far, and I'm certainly not an expert, show that while they could be used as a bio-fuel, there's probably some other crops and products that are more economically feasible." How about the incoming Obama administration? (Duffin) "We're optimistic, we felt very encouraged and pleased to have him reach out to the industry during the campaign."