'Very good': Southern Alberta sugar beet growers seeing positive harvest

LETHBRIDGE -

With the growing season wrapping up for many, southern Alberta's sweetest crop is in full swing.

"The crop ended up very good," said Gary Tokariuk, a third-generation sugar beet farmer.

"It's good sugar on our farm and it's good tonnes."

The Tokariuk family has been growing and harvesting sugar beets for the past 75 years northeast of Lethbridge.

This year's results are looking promising, though Tokariuk says the season hasn't been a smooth process.

"The spring was cold, and it took a while for everything to get going and then once we got the crop up and going, we got eight inches of rain, which helped ease the water," he said.

Producers across the region say the biggest challenge this summer was the early allocation limit of eight inches of irrigation water – a drop of about 50 per cent compared to normal.

It's a resource sugar beets rely on.

"Sugar beets need about 20 inches of water, whether it be rain or irrigation," said Jennifer Crowson, executive director of the Alberta Sugar Beet Growers (ASBG).

"Because we have quite a vast irrigation system here, specifically in southern Alberta, that's essential to sugar beet production."

According to Crowson, eight per cent of sugar in Canada is made from beets, meaning the harvest is a big undertaking.

"We typically harvest around 850,000 tonnes of beets, which is about 28,000 acres of sugar beets grown here in southern Alberta," Crowson said.

The ASBG says Roundup Ready sugar beet varieties, updated irrigation and improved equipment have added to the successful growing seasons.

"It looks like it's going to be over a 31 metric tonne to the acre crop," Tokariuk said.

Crowson is looking at ways to grow the sugar beet industry, including ongoing contract negotiations between Lantic Inc. and 200 farm families.

She says the most recent contract was a two-year extension made in 2023, making it a challenge for growers to invest in their crops and equipment with an unknown future.

"What we need is to expand the market," Crowson said.

"Our current processor is able to process X number of capacity and that's what our acres are based on currently."

The contract covers the 2024 crops.

With harvest underway, processing at the Taber refinery began in September, with around 6,000 tonnes of sugar beets being processed every day.

The extractable sugar rate is expected to be around 17 per cent this year, which is on target.

Harvest is expected to be complete by Oct. 31.