The summer has been hot and dry for the most part, which can make harvesting sugarbeets a bit easier, Ingulsrud said.
"It's always difficult to harvest beets when it's too muddy because you have to pull them out of the ground," he said. "On the other hand, when it's dry, sometimes it's difficult for the harvesters to even penetrate the ground because it gets dried so hard. So, it does bring some complications when it gets overly dry."
The dry conditions not only impact harvesting the crop, but also impact the sugarbeet itself.
Ingulsrud said the hot, dry conditions tend to raise the sugar content in the beet, which makes it more efficient to process in the factories and more profitable. Ingulsrud said they are seeing some differences between beets harvested from the northern part of the Red River Valley, near Canada, where conditions are drier, and the southern part.
"When we have a higher sugar content as a percent of weight, it just makes for a nicer combination of lower cost relative to the amount of sugar you're extracting," he said. "The positive thing about it being drier is you get higher sugar content, but the negative part is you get less tons."
Ingulsrud said American Crystal Sugar takes safety very seriously and added they appreciate the public's consideration of a very busy time on the roads during the harvest.
"Our goal is to complete a safe harvest with no accidents, and I really appreciate everyone's help in trying to achieve that goal," he said.