Worland, Wyoming — The 2022 sugar beet harvest has been called a success by Wyoming Sugar Company and its growers.
Despite a late planting due to weather conditions in the spring, just under 360,000 tons of beets were harvested from 11,149 acres and brought to Wyoming Sugar for processing.
Other than a few smaller growers who got their beets in later, the majority of the crop was harvested and transported by Oct. 24.
Wyoming Sugar President and CEO Mike Greear said that favorable weather assisted them in a smooth harvesting process and allowed growers to take all Sundays off from working this harvest season.
The average sugar content for this crop of beets was 18.16 percent, which is considered low by industry standards.
Despite this, Greear was happy with the results of this years’ harvest.
“We didn’t quite get to our five-year average for sugar content, but overall it was a good crop,” he said.
Sugarbeet production is a longstanding agricultural practice in the region, and according to its website, a large portion of beets grown in the southern Bighorn Basin and Fremont County are processed at Wyoming Sugar Company in Worland.
This factory is owned by local growers and has been processing sugar beets into refined sugar for over 100 years.