SC Montana where General Custer should've stopped | This is a marketing question for the beet guys and the federal crop insurance gurus. So in our lil' river valley area the sugar beet proposition is turning bad. The digging has been brutal. 5-6 inches rain in the last month in a half. This is after having flood irrigated these fields 6 times or more this summer. Just guessing their is only 10-20% of the crop out of the ground. Looking out window and another nine tenths last night. Not a chance of a wheel turning within forty miles of here. One gentleman parked his digger tractor in his yard last week and encouraged other neighbors to maybe think about the prospects of their crop insurance. This years crop is worst in last five years and has terrible sugar content. I heard of some elevens and lots of thirteens. Most guys should have fairly high APHs' and the current and future market prices are half what they had been. So the question I have is 'Does anybody know what federal crop has set for beets $/Ton and do they pay lump sum or do they divvy out the payment over the next eleven months like the coop would. Lots of un answered questions. There really hasn't been any extreme cold, dumps have been trying to stay open, what would a grower say for the cause of not harvesting crop. I don't think to much mud is acceptable answer. They really can't dig now but what gives. Abandon crop or still fight? I am just brain picking and watching it rain. Good luck to all.
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Beet Farmers- To dig or not to dig?
