Rain across northern Wyoming temporarily halted sugar beet harvest operations last week, but growers remain confident they can keep pace with factory demands as the annual harvest ramps up.
"It’s going to get pretty muddy," said Ric Rodriguez, a grower with the Western Sugar Cooperative near Lovell. "But we harvest enough beets to stay about three days ahead of the factory."
During the early harvest before cool autumn temperatures really kick in, growers have to be careful not to pile up too many beets in the warm sun because those piles can turn to mush.
For optimal storage and processing, Rodriguez said the ideal autumn conditions are "cool and dry." With some beets sitting in outdoor piles for up to 90 days before processing, "We need cooler temperatures to keep them from deteriorating."
At the same time, said Rodriguez, "We never want to run out of beets in the factory,” because it costs a lot to stop and start operations at the Lovell facility.
"We should be going again by tomorrow sometime," Rodriguez said.
While growing conditions have been favorable since the spring planting season around Lovell, sugar pricing remains uncertain as the industry deals with potential oversupply issues, said Rodriguez.
"The price is a little depressed right now. We're not quite sure where it'll finish out," Rodriguez explained. "This year there's kind of been an oversupply.”
Rodriguez said the cooperative is still selling sugar from the 2024 harvest, making price projections difficult.
"It takes us about a year to sell all the sugar, so we can make some predictions, but right now we're not projecting anything until we see where the market settles,” he said.
Last year, sugar beets sold for around $60 a ton, and the general sense is the 2025 crop will fetch a lower price.
Still, the Western Sugar Cooperative is projecting some promising numbers for 2025, with estimates showing a district-wide average yield of 29.01 tons of beets per acre and sugar content of 19.05%.
If those projections hold, it would mark the second-highest sugar content on record. Last year's crop posted the highest sugar content in history at 19.21% with yields averaging 29.21 tons per acre.
Toll of Drought
Not all growing regions experienced the favorable conditions seen in northern Wyoming. Around Wheatland, drought impacted local beet production.
"The biggest deal here lately is we've been such a heavy drought," said Josh Kaufman, a Wheatland-area farmer who formerly grew beets. "Is there even enough water in the irrigation district to grow beets? The Wheatland area, there's going to be some acres that are a little light because our water ran out around the 20th to 25th of July in the irrigation district."
Kaufman, who served as secretary and treasurer for the Wheatland Growers Association, said water shortages have been a significant challenge for growers without well access.
Ramping Up in Worland
Meanwhile, operations are accelerating at the Wyoming Sugar Company in Worland, where processing recently got rolling.
"We started our pre-pile on the 17th of September. We started slicing beets on the 18th of September," said Mike Greear, president and chief executive of Wyoming Sugar. "We've just brought in a limited number of tons just to keep the factory fed while we brought it up to speed."
Greear reported strong numbers for the 2025 crop from Wyoming Sugar's 13,200 contracted acres.
"We had a record crop last year, and this crop is on par with that," he said. "Our sugar content is already coming in — yesterday was 18.5% sugar, and that's up from what I would normally expect in September to see in the 17% range."
Last year, Wyoming Sugar finished with 19.6% sugar content, and Greear said they're "well on our way to that" again this year. Company-wide yields are projected around 34 tons per acre.
Sweet Surprises
While most consumers know sugar beets produce the white granulated sugar found in grocery stores, the crop has some surprising applications that might surprise some consumers.
"Probably your medicine," Greear said when asked about unexpected uses. "People don't realize that sugar goes into pharmaceuticals. It's a very, very small market."
Sugar beets also find their way into craft distilleries. Red Pine Distillery in Grand Forks North Dakota produces a sugar beet vodka that's "distilled four times, twice pot distilled and twice column distilled" with a "subtly sweet" flavor and "clean finish."
The distillery also makes sugar beet-based spirits marketed as rum, noting that while "true rum is made from sugarcane, we stayed true to our values of making our products from local ingredients."
Another surprising application is Isomalt, a naturally sourced sugar substitute made from sugar beets.
The product, manufactured through a two-stage process of enzymatic treatment and hydrogenation, provides half the calories of regular sugar while maintaining a similar sweetening profile. It's become a leading sugar replacer worldwide in hard candies.
Despite these alternatives and substitutes, Greear remains convinced of sugar's irreplaceable role.
"Frankly, there's no substitute for sugar," he said. "People try, and what they need to do is like everything else good in this world — use it in moderation and stay active."
Rodriguez noted that over 55% of sugar consumed in the U.S. comes from sugar beets, producing "just pure white sugar" that's "exactly the same" as cane sugar once processed.
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
