by Evelyn Pyburn
BILLINGS — Early cold weather devastated what was anticipated to be a record year for sugar beet production in Yellowstone County and Tuesday, county commissioners approved a request to apply for disaster designation for the county.
If approved, local growers would qualify for federal disaster relief funds.
County Extension Agent Steve Lackman said with the commissioners’ proclamation, the governor may put the request through the state process and forward it to the federal government for consideration.
“We believe that the money should be made available,” said Huntley beet grower Leroy Gabel. “Because of Mother Nature, we are going to have an impact on a lot of growers.”
Since the sugar refinery will have a shorter operating season by about six weeks because of reduced production, the economic impact is hitting everyone involved in the industry, said Gabel.
A letter submitted to commissioners from Greg Lackman, president of the Mountain States Beet Growers Association of Montana, said “Yellowstone County growers have an average of 38.8 percent of their sugar beet acres remaining unharvested with some individual growers as high as 50 percent. This is a devastating economic loss and we feel it is important for these growers to have an opportunity to apply for federal disaster assistance.”
Also writing in support of the commissioners’ action was Mike Hofer, vice president of agriculture for the Western Sugar Cooperative. He wrote, “The Western Sugar Cooperative has concluded harvest effective Dec. 7, 2009 for the Billings factory region. The damage that was sustained during freezing conditions from Oct. 9 through Oct. 12 caused irreparable damage to the remaining unharvested crop. Since the initial freeze, we have worked together to maximize the total beets harvested and processed on a fresh basis. The current weather conditions have frozen the remaining unharvested beets and have made future harvest impossible.”
Gabel said that between Jan. 7 and Jan. 9, the Billings factory will be done processing beets. Usually, the processing continues until the end of February. He said that they were able to harvest 100,000 tons of stored beets before the frost came.
