Sugar beet harvesting in the Netherlands reaches its halfway point

Dutch sugar beet growers have already cleared half of the area under cultivation (approximately 48%). This means that around 42,000 hectares of the almost 81,000 hectares sown remain to be cleared. In previous years, a larger area had already been harvested by this time, according to the Dutch sugar beet cooperative Cosun. Cosun and the Dutch Sugar Beet Research Institute (IRS) advise growers not to delay clearing, given the increasing risk of precipitation and night frost. The IRS recommends taking advantage of the current good conditions for clearing, as the temperature, irradiation and sugar production rapidly decline as the weeks progress. Sugar yields reach their optimum at the beginning of December, so there is no longer much growth. Almost 7,000 hectares of sugar beet were harvested in the first week of November. If this pace continues, the harvesting is expected to be over by Christmas. It should be remembered that it began in the last week of September. The average sugar ...