• Sunday, May 22, 2016 Enterprise Editor Virginia Hutchins [ 208-735-3242 • vhutchins@magicvalley.com ] • B1
THE BIG STORY
STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS
Clockwise from left, Daniel, Ron and Shala Hepworth, with granddaughter Adelaide Jo Andersen, and Wyatt and Presley Hepworth at their Murtaugh home May 4. The stability of sugar beet income is a key reason the Hepworths can live a lifestyle tied to the land.
The Sugar Year Hazards of Spring Launch 2016 Sugar Beet Cycle MYCHEL MATTHEWS mmatthews@magicvalley.com
URTAUGH • It’s a typical spring M day in the life of a farmer. A hawk hangs in the air, watching field mice dart along the edge of a young alfalfa crop. The rumble of an engine brake in the distance interrupts the solace, joined by the gurgling and spitting sounds of an irrigation pivot coming to life. A cow gives her newborn calf a low, reassuring bellow. And, ever so silently, thousands of acres of sugar beets emerge from the soil. By late April, local sugar producers got their first glimpse of the new crop — tender green shoots that seem too delicate to break through the crusted soil. Despite its puny appearance, a tiny seedling packs a powerful punch. In the next six months, each seedling will develop large leaves and a massive taproot, looking somewhat like a cross between a turnip and a potato and weighing several pounds. When cool weather and short days come on, the plant will store sugar in the root, ready to be harvested in the fall and processed over the winter. It’s a defining annual cycle in sugar beet growers’ lives — and in the state’s economy. While Idaho’s overall farm receipts in 2015 fell by nearly 10 percent, the state’s sugar beet receipts rose nearly 20 percent to $300 million, making the crop a sweet deal. As the Times-News follows a year in the sugar beet cycle, you’ll meet the people who irrigate the crop, haul the harvest, operate loaders or factory equipment and market the bags of finished White
More Inside
Satin sugar. But it all starts here, in a Murtaugh field. ••• Murtaugh farmer Ron Hepworth, 46, likes growing sugar beets because it’s a “challenging” crop. “It’s the first crop in the ground and the last crop out,” he said. “I love it. It gets into my blood. And it pays the bills.” The stability of sugar beet income is a key reason the Hepworths can live a lifestyle tied to the land instead of taking second jobs in town. It’s not the life for everyone, Ron said. “But I like it.” Ron’s wife, Shala, wouldn’t want it any other way, either. “We could survive somewhere else,” said the 44-year-old grandmother of five, “but he wouldn’t truly be happy.” The Hepworths own 320 sugar beet shares with Snake River Sugar Co. — the grower-owned cooperative that owns Amalgamated Sugar Co. — which allow them to grow 320 acres of sugar beets. Other crops such as alfalfa and malt barley fit into the crop rotation. Making a living off the land is what keeps the family — and extended family — close, Shala said. The Hepworths have four adult children. Both Shala and Ron graduated from Murtaugh High School. And in some ways, they’ve never left. “Our family motto is, ‘Once a Red Devil, always a Red Devil,’” said Shala, married to Ron for 27 years. Their son, Daniel, and his wife both coach at Murtaugh, and Shala’s sister Michele Capps is the school superintendent.
STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS
Presley, right, and Wyatt Hepworth play in their grandfather’s yard May 4 in Murtaugh. The country life has dangers as well as pleasures; moments later, Presley sliced her toe on something in the grass and had to go to an emergency room for stitches.
About this Project A gallery at Magicvalley.com showcases more photos from the “Sugar Bowl” project.
Shala’s dad, Duane Turner, drives school bus and maintains the school grounds. Daniel’s son, Wyatt, 3, isn’t in school yet. He attends the “preschool of Papa,” riding with his father while he makes his rounds on the farm, Shala said. Wyatt is the fourth generation to work on the farm at harvest, alongside his father, grandfather and two greatgrandfathers. ••• Rolling out of bed at 6 every morning isn’t what it used to be.
Today’s story is the first installment in a special project by reporters Mychel Matthews and Heather Kennison, following a full year in the sugar beet production and processing cycle. Throughout the coming year, you’ll meet the people who irrigate the crop, haul the harvest, operate loaders or factory equipment and market the bags of finished White Satin sugar. The reporting team also will examine many of the political, environmental and economic issues connected with the sugar industry. Watch for the second installment of “Sugar Bowl” in early September in the Times-News and Magicvalley.com. Modern farmers still face long hours of work but need fewer hands on deck. “We have four people who run
the farm and two extras at harvest,” Shala said. Please see SPRING, B2
Idaho’s Sugar Timeline 2 Government Allotments, Co-op Structure Control Sugar Beet Acreage 3 USDA Manages Domestic Sugar Production in Unstable World Market 3 Sugar Beets’ Role in the Idaho Economy 3 Idaho Researchers Test New Sugar Beet Varieties 4
B2 • Sunday, May 22, 2016
COURTESY OF TWIN FALLS COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM
Amalgamated Sugar Co.’s factory in Twin Falls is seen in this early Clarence E. Bisbee photo.
Idaho’s Sugar Timeline
1897: David Eccles founds Ogden Sugar Co. and builds a sugar factory in Ogden, Utah. 1902: Eccles founds Logan Sugar Co. and builds a factory in Logan, Utah. Eccles consolidates the two, creating Amalgamated Sugar Co. Days later, Eccles sells Oregon Sugar Co. to Amalgamated. In its first year, Amalgamated processes 97,119 tons of sugar beets into 10,626 tons of sugar. 1903: Amalgamated and Eccles each buy 25 percent of Lewiston Sugar Co., with 50 percent owner American Beet Sugar Co. Then, American buys 50 percent of Amalgamated. 1905: Sugar beet blight devastates the Ogden and Logan plants. 1912: Amalgamated opens a plant in Burley. 1914: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchases a large portion of Amalgamated, which it sells in 1929. 1916: Amalgamated purchases a sugar plant in Brigham, Utah. 1917: Industry disputes drive Amalgamated to build a plant at what would become Amalga, Utah. The company’s Paul plant opens the same year. And Amalgamated purchases the Californiabased Pacific Sugar Corp. 1926: The Paul plant is shuttered. 1932: Amalgamated separates from American. A new production record is set: 603,615 tons of beets produce 97,928 tons of sugar, nearly 2 million 100-pound bags. 1934: Only the Lewiston and Missoula, Mont., plants operate due to blight. Also, Amalgamated obtains the White Satin trademark for marketing. 1935: A blight-resistant seed variety is used for the first time. Yields are drastically higher than previous years, and five of eight factories operate. 1936: The Paul factory reopens. Also, Amalgamated sells the Missoula and Clarksburg, Calif., factories to American Crystal Sugar Co. (successor of the American Beet Sugar Co.), leaving Amalgamated’s six remaining factories in Utah and Idaho. Amalgamated also recapitalizes, leading to a complete separation from American Crystal. 1950: Amalgamated is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. 1960: The company purchases Franklin County Sugar Co. 1971: Amalgamated and its competitors are sued, alleging price fixing and market manipulation. 1984: The company purchases Medford Corp. (known as Medco), a timber company based in Medford, Ore., for $110 million. 1987: Amalgamated merges into LLC Corp then changes its name to Valhi Inc. 1990: Union workers go on strike. 1994: Snake River Sugar Co., a grower-owned co-op, forms. 1997: Snake River Sugar buys Amalgamated Sugar from Valhi for $250 million. The co-op borrows $180 million, including $100 million from Valhi, to complete the transaction. 2005: Amalgamated closes the Nyssa, Ore., plant, leaving the company with three factories. 2009: The Nampa factory processes about 1.5 million short tons of sugar beets; Paul processes 2.6 million short tons; and Twin Falls processes 1.1 million. Sources: Amalgamated Sugar Co., Snake River Sugar Co., Wikipedia
Agriculture reporter Mychel Matthews spent her early childhood setting syphon tubes with her dad, drowning gophers and making mud pies with ditch water.
STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS
Irrigation boots at Ron Hepworth’s Murtaugh home.
Ron Hepworth holds a handful of pelletized and coated sugar beet seed.
MYCHEL MATTHEWS, TIMES-NEWS
Spring Continued from B1
Adva n ce d fa r m i n g practices such as GPS te c h n o l og y o n fa r m equipment and GMO ( ge n e t i ca l ly m o d i f i e d organism) or GE (genetically engineered) sugar beet seed have significantly changed a farmer’s routine by reducing the physical, mechanical and c h e m i ca l d e m a n d s o f the crop. Migrant hoeing crews, for decades a common sight in the Magic Valley, are all but a thing of the past. Until the late 1990s, l a b o re rs wo u l d wa l k between rows in the field, systematically thinning seedlings to one sugar beet every six inches or so. When weeds started to grow, the migrant crew would return to wipe out the nutrient-sucking pests. “It would take at least a crew of 10, and it would cost a lot” to thin beets or hoe weeds, Shala said. Seeds are now planted with such precision that no thinning is required. Sugar beet seeds — which resemble a tiny chunk of tree bark or cork — are now coated to smooth their rough edges so the seeds flow through the planter like liquid. Tractor GPS navigates to prevent overlapping of seed rows, but Ron’s planter has to be manually adjusted to drop seed at consistent intervals to get the correct “stand” — 170 to 200 beets per 100-foot row. His equipment plants 12 rows at a time spread over a 21-foot swath, shooting liquid fertilizer into the furrow right behind the seed. Amalgamated Sugar, which produces the White Satin brand, went GMO in 2008 with Roundup Ready sugar beets developed by Monsanto. The beets are resistant to the herbicide glyphosate, which, when applied to the entire crop, kills the weeds but not the beet. By April 19, Ron planted all but 70 acres before rain threatened to shut down the field work. Scattered drops fell around him as he watched a cloud burst over Dry Creek Canyon. “It’s raining hard over the hills, but if it stays like this here I can keep going,” he said. Several miles to the north, seedlings were beginning to emerge in a field he planted just a week earlier. A few days of rain and a few days of heat got things off to a good start, but that’s just the first hurdle the crop would face. Once the seeds are in the ground, Ron’s biggest worry is frost. “ I t ’s a l l u p to t h e weather,” he said. “The plants are the most vulnerable to frost when they’re just about to poke t h ro u g h t h e g ro u n d .” When the seedling gets to
STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS
A ditch borders a Murtaugh sugar beet field April 8. Farmer Ron Hepworth rents land from a neighbor in order to raise the sugar beets to fulfill his obligation to a grower cooperative.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had such good moisture in the soil at planting. This has been the easiest spring I can remember.” Ron Hepworth, Murtaugh farmer
STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS
Ron Hepworth’s tractor plants sugar beet seed and spreads fertilizer in a Murtaugh field April 8. the two-leaf stage it can handle a light frost. “The last time we had a real problem the temperature got down to 17 degrees on the 10th of May,” he said. “We had to replant 100 percent of the crop.” The Idaho wind can damage the crop by sandblasting the seedlings,
essentially shearing them off at the ground. “Most of us try to keep enough crop residue in the soil to break up the wind,” he said. Despite a few minor freezes, the sugar beets were looking good in early May. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had such
good moisture in the soil at planting,” Ron said. “This has been the easiest spring I can remember.” But the perils of spring are far from past. And weather could still make or break the crop before harvest rolls around in September and beets start piling up in southern Idaho’s beet dumps.
Sunday, May 22, 2016 • B3
Government Allotments, Co-op Structure Control Sugar Beet Acreage MYCHEL MATTHEWS mmatthews@magicvalley.com
UPERT • Idaho sugar beet acreR age is on the decline. That’s because sugar beet yields are on the rise. It’s not the usual supply-anddemand scenario, but it’s how the Farm Bill’s sugar program works. In order to stabilize the volatile price of refined sugar, the U.S. Department of Agriculture uses domestic marketing allotments, along with price supports and tariff-rate quotas, to control the amount of sugar available to the U.S. market. The sugar program “is an agreement between growers and consumers, administered by the government, that assures a steady supply of sugar at a reasonable price to consumers,” said Duane Grant, chairman Duane of the Snake River Grant Sugar Co.’s board of directors. Snake River Sugar is the grower-owned cooperative that owns Amalgamated Sugar Co. “Sugar is unique in how it’s managed,” Grant said. “The (USDA) monitors sugar consumption nationally and tracks the consumption year to year, then allocates 80 percent of domestic sugar consumption to the domestic sugar industry.” Grant lives in Rupert and owns Grant 4-D Farms, which operates numerous farms in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. Randall Grant — no relation to Duane Grant — is president of the Idaho Sugar Beet Growers Association. He lives in Twin Falls and farms near Eden and Hazelton. Sugar beets in the U.S. are now grown by co-ops, Randall Grant said. “There are virtually no (independent) companies left,” he said. The industry “figured out the only
feasible way for the growers to raise sugar beets was to buy the factories.” Growers purchased shares in Snake River Sugar, and each share owned gives the grower the right to raise an acre of sugar beets for the co-op. Each share also obligates the grower to deliver a certain amount of beets to the co-op each year. This dynamic diminishes the fluctuations seen in free markets. The obligation to grow a crop reduces sugar shortages caused by growers chasing higher profits from other crops; share limits reduce the risk of gluts in the U.S. sugar market that would otherwise drive down prices to growers. The processing capacity of Amalgamated’s three sugar factories also limits the crop grown in a given year. The amount of beets grown must match the amount of beets that can be processed in a short time window. “Beets are perishable,” Randall Grant said. The first of the crop is harvested in September. “We need to be done processing in March.” The company is the second largest beet-sugar producer in the country and refines 2 billion pounds of sugar annually, Duane Grant said.
How Many Acres Does It Take? “Back in 1997, when the cooperative first took control of Amalgamated Sugar, we raised 222,000 acres of sugar beets — predominately in Idaho and Eastern Oregon,” Duane Grant said. Today, with advances in technology, irrigation efficiency and genetically modified beet seed, the co-op raises the same quantity of sugar beets on 182,000 acres. The number of shares in the company has dropped proportionately. “During the (co-op’s) first five years, sugar prices were poor and many growers got out of the business,” he said. “(From) 2006 to
Idaho Sugar Beet Acreage
South-central Idaho accounted for 60 percent of the state’s 2014 sugar beet acreage. By county: Minidoka: 37,800 Cassia: 33,300 Bingham: 25,500 Power: 13,800 Jerome: 13,000 Canyon: 9,500 Lincoln: 8,700 Twin Falls: 8,400 Elmore: 6,700 Owyhee: 4,400 Ada: 2,500 Payette: 1,800 Washington: 1,500 Gem: 200 Other: 1,900 TOTAL: 169,000
STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS
Sugar beets begin to grow in a Murtaugh field May 4.
2 Sugar Beet Counties, over the Years
2008, it was similarly difficult. In many cases when a grower wanted to exit, there was not a willing buyer for the shares, so the exiting grower would forfeit his shares back to the cooperative.” The co-op has issued no new shares since its inception, and the 182,000 remaining shares represent the total after forfeiture by those exiting the industry. Opportunities to buy or lease sugar beet shares arise occasionally, Randall Grant said. Perhaps sugar beets may not fit into a grower’s rotation one year, but he still has the obligation to deliver his share of beets. He can lease his shares to another grower for a time, then start back up another year. Or perhaps a grower wants to retire; he can sell his beet shares. “Today there is very strong demand for any shares offered for sale,” Duane Grant said.
MINIDOKA COUNTY 1975 Harvested acres: 29,000 Production: 491,000 tons Sugar content: 16.1 percent Average yield per acre: 17.1 tons 1985 Harvested acres: 35,000 Production: 752,000 tons Sugar content: 16.3 percent Yield per acre: 20.9 tons 1995 Harvested acres: 42,400 Production: 966,900 tons Sugar content: 16.6 percent Yield per acre: 22.8 tons 2005 Harvested acres: 42,400 Production: 1.1 million tons Sugar content: 17.82 percent Yield per acre: 26 tons 2013 Harvested acres: 37,800 Production: 1.4 million tons Sugar content: 17.25 percent Yield per acre: 36.1 tons
TWIN FALLS COUNTY 1975 Harvested acres: 12,677 Production: 247,272 tons Sugar content: 16.06 percent Average yield per acre: 19.5 tons 1985 Harvested acres: 12,600 Production: 270,000 tons Sugar content: 16.49 percent Yield per acre: 21.4 tons 1995 Harvested acres: 17,100 Production: 418,200 tons Sugar content: 16.6 percent Yield per acre: 24.5 tons 2005 Harvested acres: 10,4000 Production: 274,000 tons Sugar content: 17.49 percent Yield per acre: 26.3 tons 2013 Harvested acres: 8,400 Production: 316,000 tons Sugar content: 15.99 percent Yield per acre: 37.6 tons
USDA Manages Domestic Sugar Sugar Beets’ Role in the Production in Unstable World Market Idaho Economy MYCHEL MATTHEWS mmatthews@magicvalley.com
WIN FALLS • If a farmer T used the so-called “world price” for sugar to decide wh e t h e r to g row s u ga r beets, that farmer would run, screaming, in the other direction. That’s because the world price is barely half of what it costs to produce the commodity. Why, then, do U.S. farmers continue to grow sugar beets? The answer is simple: The U.S. Department of Agriculture manages the amount of sugar produced nationally to protect the industry from outside influences. By adhering to World Trade Organization rules, the USDA ensures a stable and sustainable domestic sugar industry. On a global level, sugar production — or overproduction — has become a political tool which has rendered the world price a meaningless indicator of actual prices to growers and throws the supply-anddemand marketing principle out the window, the American Sugar Alliance argues. The alliance is a national coalition of cane and sugar beet producers. The WTO, USDA included, has determined sugar to be an “essential” food stuff — too important to rely on imports — and has ruled its members should control their own supply by producing what they consume and no more than they consume. Up o n t h i s re co m m e n d a tion, U.S. sugar producers — sugar beet growers and cane growers alike — contribute 80 percent of the sugar the nation consumes. Cane was once the dominant sugar in U.S. markets, but within the past few years beet sugar has taken the lead. Sugar from cane has to be processed twice, making it more expensive than beet sugar. So more cane producers are moving into the ethanol market. Beet sugar now accounts for 55 percent of refined sugar produced in the country each year.
Charts on Magicvalley.com show sugar importers and exporters around the globe, and a U.S. map depicts the country’s distribution of sugar production.
Who’s Growing the Sugar? Although U.S. growers are capable of producing 100 percent of what the nation consumes, the U.S. sugar program, used since World War II, has kept sugar imports as an economic development tool with countries that are friendly toward the U.S., said Duane Grant, chairman of Snake River Sugar Co.’s board of directors. By continuing to import some sugar, the U.S. bolsters relationships with its trade partners.
“Depending on other countries for a food staple was a recipe for disaster, which is why America created its sugar policy and encouraged domestic production.” American Sugar Alliance video
Despite a legal obligation to comply with WTO rules, many of its members ignore regulations and subsidize their growers to produce massive amounts of sugar every year, Grant said, dumping their surplus onto the world market for whatever price it will bring. Brazil is, by far, the largest sugar exporter on the globe, producing nearly half of all sugar exports. Brazil, along with Australia, Thailand,
Mexico and India, created a world glut and since 2011 dropped the world sugar price from 32 cents per pound to 11 cents, according to the American Sugar Alliance. In the past year, global sugar consumption, 173 million metric tons, surpassed production, 172 million metric tons, finally reducing the world glut. Brazil’s sugar production, mainly from cane, is forecast to drop 950,000 tons this year to 35 million tons, one-fifth of the world’s production. Fifty-nine percent of Brazil’s sugar cane crop is now converted to ethanol instead of made into sugar, according to the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. India’s production is forecast to drop 1.7 million tons to 28.5 million tons — 15 percent of global production. Production in the European Union is expected to fall 650,000 tons to 16.1 million tons — nearly 10 percent of global production. China’s production is down 400,000 tons to 10.6 million tons — 6 percent of global production. Production in Russia, Australia and Mexico is expected to rise. U.S. production is forecast at 8 million tons, up nearly 150,000 tons from last year, according to USDA statistics. Of that 8 million, Idaho produces 800,000 tons — nearly 10 percent of domestic sugar. Fifty-five percent of U.S.produced sugar is from beets; 45 percent is from cane. “Depending on other countries for a food staple was a recipe for disaster, which is why America created its sugar policy and encouraged domestic prod u c t i o n ,” a n A m e r i c a n Sugar Alliance video says of America’s foreign dependence and resulting sugar ra t i o n i n g i n t h e 1 9 4 0 s . “Now, we have affordable, homegrown supplies.” T h e U. S. co n s u m e s 1 0 million tons of sugar each year, importing 20 percent of that. The U.S. does not export sugar.
A top crop: The sugar beet is in the top six or seven crops for the state in terms of its value when it leaves the farm, said Laura Johnson, bureau chief for the Idaho State Department of Agriculture’s market development division. Amalgamated Sugar Co. reported the sugar beet industry contributes 1.7 percent of the Idaho gross domestic product. And while most major Idaho crops are expected to decline in cash receipts for 2015, only sugar beets and barley were expected to increase. Sugar beets are projected to contribute $300 million in cash receipts in 2015 — about 9.7 percent of Idaho’s total cash receipts from crops. Rising revenue: Amalgamated Sugar’s members annually grow about 182,000 acres of sugar beets, and the company’s sugar brings in between $750 million and $900 million in annual revenue, the company reported in its presentation to a state legislative committee in December. Amalgamated, owned and operated by Snake River Sugar Co., has 679 members in Idaho. The state’s sugar beet growers last year harvested 1,000 fewer acres than in 2014, according to the University of Idaho. Although 2015 production is projected to be down 1 percent from 2014, sugar beet revenues are estimated to be up 19 percent. Factory jobs: Amalgamated Sugar has about 1,600 employees. Of those, 324 work at the Twin Falls factory — a payroll of about $20 million. Sugar processing accounts for about 2.5 percent of all manufacturing jobs in Idaho, according to Idaho Department of Labor statistics. That percentage has increased slightly from 10 years ago. Farm jobs: “Production has kind of shifted from the Treasure Valley to the Magic Valley,” said Mark Duffin, executive director of the Idaho Sugarbeet Growers Association. Employment at the farm has dropped over the years, he said, as technology and genetic engineering streamlined the process. Genetically engineered sugar beets are resistant to herbicides, which has reduced the need for many migrant laborers to weed the crops. Connection to other commodities: Sugar beets are important to Idaho because they go hand
Projected Idaho Cash Receipts from Farm Marketings, 2015
Milk — $2.3 billion Cattle and Calves — $2.2 billion Potatoes — $871 million Other Crops — $571 million Wheat — $506 million Hay — $485 million Sugar Beets — $300 million Barley — $286 million Other Livestock — $226 million Dry Beans — $71 million Source:“The Financial Condition of Idaho Agriculture: 2015,” University of Idaho in hand with potato production, Johnson said. Duffin said growers must rotate crops every few years, and many also rotate in wheat, hay or beans. Also, the pulp byproduct from sugar beets is fed as a high-quality, inexpensive feed to beef and dairy cattle. “There’s a strong symbiosis between the industries, too,” he said. “That market is important to us.” If not for dairy cows or beef cattle, some sugar beet pulp probably would be put into landfills, said Rick Naerebout, director of operations for Idaho Dairymen’s Association. “That’s really what attracted the (dairy) industry here, was affordable land and affordable feed.” Beet hauling: Transportation has always been a large expense for the sugar beet industry. In Idaho, about 7 million tons of beets are transported a year, Duffin said. Transystems is the main contractor for hauling. The company announced in April that it would move its manufacturing facility to Rupert to better provide semi-truck trailers to its largest Idaho customer, Amalgamated Sugar. Its Twin Falls facility will continue to maintain trailers. Transystems manufactures about 20 trailers a year on average, a company spokesman said last month. The company would like to increase production to 40 trailers a year. —Heather Kennison
B4 • Sunday, May 22, 2016
Idaho Researchers Test New Sugar Beet Varieties production sugar beets. The middle two rows of each variety — about half of what’s planted — are sent in for testing, while the others are harvested and sent to the factories.
HEATHER KENNISON hkennison@magicvalley.com
WIN FALLS • When it comes to T commercial sugar beet production, only the best will do. Each year, the Snake River Sugarbeet Research and Seed Alliance receives seeds for new varieties of sugar beets to be tested. The alliance — a seed governing committee of growers, Amalgamated Sugar Co. staff and Snake River Sugar representatives — seeks to improve seed quality and performance for the growing region. With thousands of acres of sugar beets planted in Idaho each year, seed companies continually vie for new varieties to be approved for use by Idaho growers. “It’s a very competitive industry,” said Mark Duffin, executive director of the Idaho Sugarbeet Growers Association. Beta Seed, Syngenta/Hilleshog, Crystal Beet Seed, Maribo Seed and SESVanderHave are some of the major companies that regularly send sugar beet seeds for testing. Each company has breeders who develop new varieties. “We test the different varieties for disease resistance, quality, sugar content and recoverable sugars,” Duffin said. The testing period for any new variety is three years, alliance Chairman Cody Bingham said. The alliance sets a threshold for the amount of sugar the beet must produce. Also, new varieties should provide resistance to diseases such as curly top — a virus that can be deadly to a crop, causing the leaves to yellow and curl up. So far, about 20 varieties of sugar beet have been approved for Idaho growers — though some varieties do best in certain growing regions due to climate and soil content. Almost 100 percent of all sugar beets grown in Idaho are Roundup Ready crops, which are resistant to the Roundup herbicide, Bingham said. The transition began in 2008 because the chemicals growers were using were dangerous to the laborers and were not effective. “There aren’t that many chemicals that can be used on sugar beets for herbicides,” Bingham said.
Sugar Beet Origins
MYCHEL MATTHEWS, TIMES-NEWS
Murtaugh grower Ron Hepworth pours sugar beet seed into his planter. The switch almost eliminated the need for other chemicals and hand labor, he said. All sugar beet companies have the ability to produce Roundup Ready seed.
This year, Bingham said, the alliance has planted eight Official Variety Trials in Idaho and Oregon. Each OVT plot averages about five acres and is a controlled portion on
Life Cycle: Seed Production Planting: Sugar beets that are grown for seeds are planted in late summer or early fall and allowed to grow to steckling size, said Snake River Sugarbeet Research and Seed Alliance Chairman Cody Bingham. Stecklings are slightly bigger than a carrot you’d find in the grocery store. Harvesting: The sugar beet is a biennial crop, meaning it doesn’t produce seeds until its second year. Stecklings are harvested in the late fall,
interrupting the plant’s growth cycle. They are then stored in conditions that preserve them until they may be replanted in the ground. Replanted in spring, the plant sends up a seed stalk which can be harvested in fall. The entire process takes a little more than a year, Bingham said. “It’s kind of two different approaches to the same plant,” he said.
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a participating grower’s land. “Each OVT grows all the varieties,” Bingham said. The trial varieties are planted at about the same time as the
Historically, most of Idaho’s sugar beet seeds come from plants grown in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, Bingham said. That trend has shifted in recent years with the effort to reduce cross-pollination with other plants. “A large portion of it is done in the Northwest region of the United States,” Bingham said. The area includes Oregon, Arizona and the Columbia Basin in Washington and Canada. Sugar beets have been used as a production crop for only about 200 years. The plant was bred in Germany at the end of the 1700s from a wild parent called the sea beet, which lives on the European seashores. The sugar beet industry really developed under Napoleon, Duffin said. According to the Smithsonian Magazine article “Blame Napoleon for Our Addiction to Sugar,” prior to 1850 sugar was a commodity that only the wealthy could afford. Following the early-1800s British blockade of France’s trade routes with the Caribbean, Napoleon encouraged new research with sugar beets. By 1815, more than 79,000 acres were put into production and beet sugar flooded the British market, the magazine reported.
Life Cycle: Sugar Production Planting: Sugar beets grown for commercial sugar production are typically planted in March and April. The crops aren’t grown for size, but for sugar content. Companies have been encouraging growers to plant the seeds closer together for more sugar production, Idaho Sugarbeet Growers Association Executive Director Mark Duffin said. Harvesting: With a long growing season, these sugar beets aren’t harvested until
October. Machines cut the leaves off the tops, or crowns, so the beets won’t regrow their leaves while in storage, wasting sugar. Once they’re removed from the soil, a conveyor loads them onto a truck. The leafy crowns are worked back into the soil to provide nutrients. In the Treasure Valley, the beets may be stored for sugar production until February, but in the Magic Valley they are stored until late March.
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Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is effective 05/20/16-05/26/16 in Idaho only and are subject to change without notice. The CD APY applies only to the initial term and is subject to change at maturity. Brokered deposits will not be accepted. Penalty applies to withdrawals made prior to maturity. Fees may reduce earnings on the account. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC © 2016 JPMorgan Chase & Co.