Beet harvest after first week in line with expectations

The harvesting of sugar beets got off to a good start last week after a rainy week in early September. Especially in the traditionally early delivery areas, quite a few beets have already been harvested. Due to the strong spread of the sowing this spring, the cooperative has changed its delivery schedule somewhat. In the southeast of Brabant, no beets have been harvested yet, because sowing was done very late here.

First round of sugar beets being driven out. Yield moderate, but nice and dry to drive. pic.twitter.com/44WRSfG4Xy

— Blit Agro (@BlitAgro) September 21, 2024

Yield unchanged
Job Jan Simmelink, manager agro central at Cosun, does not dare to mention exact figures regarding the yields and sugar contents. They will be published later this week. He can say that they are 'in line with expectations' of the aforementioned 13 tonnes of sugar per hectare. The processor assumes an average yield of 79 tonnes per hectare, which should yield 7,1 million tonnes of beets.

Sugar beets were sown in March, but also well into June. Then there was local flooding, which sometimes required reseeding. The spread is therefore very large this year. This is also reported by farmers and contractors who have already been out with their harvesters. A relatively large amount was harvested last week, with the expected precipitation this week in mind. The beet growers did not wait for that.

#sugar beets harvesting is going great. Nice and moist to harvest points and drive without damaging the soil @RenevdEijnden @CosunBeetCo pic.twitter.com/6NziGHYlOg

— Nils van Tilbeurgh (@nilsvtilbeurgh) September 21, 2024

Smooth start
The start-up of both factories, in Groningen and Dinteloord, went well according to Simmelink. Due to the nice weather there was more than enough work in stock. In the last two years the factory in Groningen in particular was plagued by major and minor disruptions.