THE LAND — AUGUST 21/AUGUST 28, 2020
www.thelandonline.com — “Where Farm and Family Meet”
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Hail aside, sugar beet crop is looking good By DICK HAGEN The Land Staff Writer Emeritus “Every year has its new challenges, that’s almost a certainty. This year SMBSC growers are planting right at 120,500 acres. That’s approximately what we’ve had each of the last several years.” That summary comes from Todd Geselius, Vice President of Agriculture at Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative. We met on July 17 — face masks in place. Todd Geselius SMBSC knows precisely the processing capacity of their big Renville, Minn. plant: beet processing capacity per 24-hour time frame, 7 days a week. This plant doesn’t shut down once it cranks up — which Geselius predicts will be about Oct. 10 this year. Obviously, weather between now and then can temper these start-up dates. “Really, the only limiting factor is how many tons the factory
can process each season,” he said. So on July 17, what’s his assessment of the 2020 beet crop for SMBSC growers? “Sugar beets are looking very good right now,” Geselius admitted. “Our first root samples taken last week were among the best we’ve ever seen this early in the season. And that’s very promising for the rest of the year.” I mentioned that Rich Photo by Dick Hagen Sigurdson at the Olivia airport was busy spraying beet fields to control circospora leaf blight. Is it because of heat and frequent rains that circospora is more intense this year? Perhaps being a cautious agronomist, Geselius commented, “I wouldn’t say more intense. It’s about the same as past seasons. Our growers work dili-
Consider cover crops on beet ground With the sugar beet crop looking good and pre-pile harvest underway, growers might want to consider planting a cover crop in their sugar beet fields. Cover crops can make a big impact in several ways, even if pre-pile harvest acres represent only a small portion of the whole field. First, headlands usually will have compacted soils in serious need of remediation. Headlands are a great location to incorporate a large-rooted brassica like radishes, rapeseed or turnips to loosen the soil. (Be careful to select a radish variety like Defender, Image, and Colonel which acts as a trap crop, not a host, for sugar beet cyst nematode.) Second, early harvested strips planted to cover crops act as a windbreak over the winter slowing wind speeds and reducing soil erosion. In this case, including cereal rye, or another overwintering species in the cover crop mix will provide coverage until the following spring. Growers can broadcast cover crop seed in pre-pile acres using a spinner-spreader or air seeder ahead of the defoliator, and the beet harvest process can effectively incorporate the seed. After pre-pile harvest, you can either broadcast with light incorporation for best germination, or drill the seed. Note that seeding rates are about 50 percent higher for broadcast, non-incorporated seed than for drilled, or incorporated seed. Cereal rye is a great choice for cover crop beginners — alone, or as part of a mixture. If sugar beets are lifted before Sept. 1, you may wish to plant a mixture of a grass, brassica, broadleaf and/or legume to diversify. Diversifying can offer more carbon sources to build soil organic matter, a variety of root architec-
tures to build soil structure, and can increase cover crop success, as different species thrive in different conditions. However, make note of any soil residual herbicides used on the field as some cover crops have occasionally shown sensitivity to the group 15 herbicides (e.g. Dual II Magnum) used in sugar beet cultivation. Develop a plan for terminating over-wintered cover crops in 2021. Assess the cover crop and soil early in the season to determine what spring tillage, if any, may be needed to prepare the seed bed. If your next crop is corn, plan to terminate cereal rye or other grasses at least 10 days before corn planting. A full rate of glyphosate is reliably effective. In contrast, soybeans can usually tolerate a shorter window between cover crop termination and planting, and producers have been “planting green” into living grass cover crops. If “planting green,” be ready to terminate shortly after soybean planting. Follow the USDA’s cover crop termination guidelines to ensure compliance with crop insurance standards, which vary by region. U of M Extension would be interested to see how cover crops on pre-pile acres establishes and overwinters. Extension would also like to see how it looks next spring compared to uncovered soil. Contact Anna Cates at U of M Extension at catesa@umn.edu to share your experiences or if you have questions. This article was submitted by Anna Cates, State soil health specialist; Tom Peters, Extension sugarbeet specialist; Liz Stahl, Extension educator-crops; and Jodi DeJong-Hughes, Extension educator-water resources; University of Minnesota Extension. v
gently to keep it under control and so far are doing a fantastic job. But it remains a threat the duration of our growing season. Warm, humid weather brings it on; and this late June, early July, those days were abundant. Good for enjoying our Minnesota lakes, but those days do create circospora issues in the field.” And circospora isn’t quickly controlled. “It takes several applications during the course of the season to keep this blight under control. This year we pushed for earlier spraying because our crop got off to a quicker start. By starting early we can delay infections and slow down the progress of the disease,” said Geselius. See SUGAR BEETS, pg. 14
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