Thumb Farmer - October 2018

A S P E C I A L S U P P L E M E N T T O T H E H U R O N D A I LY T R I B U N E

October 6, 2018

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Sugarbeet harvest: Yield exceeds predictions Tonnage is up, sugar content down

BY BRENDA BATTEL Tribune Staff Writer UPPER THUMB — A month into Michigan Sugar’s slicing campaign, a healthy crop has boosted yield projections.

James Ruhlman, executive vice president for Michigan Sugar Co., told the Tribune late-season moisture deserves a lot of the credit for the expected 31 tons-per-acre yield.

“I just want to recognize our shareholders for the care that they took — the time and the effort they took this year to care for the crop,” Ruhlman said.

“Our crop health is outstanding. And we would not be in the place we are today without that care,” he added.

Jake Maurer, of Maple Grove Acres in Ruth, harvests 850 acres of sugarbeets with his dad, Bruce, and brother, Adam.

Maurer, a fourth generation farmer, said the care Ruhlman speaks of includes combatting Cercospora, a leaf tissue fungal disease.

That requires a good spray

This sugarbeet harvester digs and scalps 12 rows at a time. Its 32-ton tank can fill up within five or six minutes. (Brenda Battel/Huron Daily Tribune) program, Maurer said.

“To stay on top of Cercospora takes a lot of diligence,” he added.

Sugar Content Sugar content is about two points less than it was last year, Ruhlman said, at 14.5 to 15 percent.

Last year, although fewer tons were harvested

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than previous years, 16.5 to 17 reach our customary 18 perpercent sugar content allowed cent average. We’ve got some an equal amount of sugar to cooler weather coming our be bagged as was in the 2016- way with some sunshine, and 2017 slicing campaign. we need that for them to kind “We’ve got some making up of store sugar.” he explained. to do,” Ruhlman noted. “We “But right now we’re kind of can still rapidly put on sugar behind in terms of sugar in DYNA RENTALS SPEC-979882 in the month of October, but our beets.” we’re behind.”

Harvest and Yield NoSQLDataToReturn “It’s going to be hard to Ruhlman said late August

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rain boosted yield beyond expectations.

A month ago when the slicing campaign was about to kick off, predictions for yield were 29.5 tons per acre on 157,000 acres planted, for more than 4.6 million tons delivered.

The increase to 31 tons per acre means more than 4.8 million tons are expected to be delivered.

Maurer said the early summer drought did not adversely affect sugarbeets, as it may have in the case of other crops.

For crops like corn and beans, it’s important to get adequate rain during a plant’s reproductive stage.

Beets however, do not go through a reproductive stage.

“I think we’re going to be happy about our sugarbeet yields,” Maurer said.

The harvest on Maple Grove Acres began Aug. 24, and Maurer expects it to go until Nov. 10 or 12.

Ruhlman, however, does not expect a record yield. That happened in 2015 with 31.64 tons per acre.

Slicing Campaign An average of 21,500 sugar<sql.select convert(varchar,getdate()) where 1 < :string> beets per day are expected (NoSQLDataToReturn) to NoSQLDataToReturn be sliced, Ruhlman said.

“Right now we’re slicing more than 23,000. So we’re off to a really good start,” he added.

“Typically later in the year, when beats deteriorate in that February-March timeframe, our slice rate goes down. But right now, we’re slicing really well.”

Measures taken to preserve quality this season include handling beets less frequently to reduce chipping, and ventilation added at local piling stations.

Equipment was added to reduce beet spillage, and a Sebewaing storage facility’s ventilation was upgraded.

See HARVEST page 3

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From seed to shelf: How beets become sugar Once the beets are 6 to 12 inches tall, they can withstand harsh weather and UPPER THUMB — Have insect problems. you ever wondered how By mid summer, the sugarbeets become sugar? sugarbeet’s leaves are one to Here is a look at the protwo feet tall, and the beets cess sugarbeets undergo will begin storing sugar in from seed to shelf. their roots.

Sugarbeets are planted in Harvest begins in late early spring. Seedbeds are summer or early fall. A topprepared in rich soil with ping machine removes the help from rain, sun and fer- leaves, and a harvester lifts tilizer. the beets from the ground.

Early on, proper moisture The beets are then loaded is needed for seeds to germi- into trucks and delivered to nate, while heavy rains can Michigan Sugar plants. They drown them out. Freezing are put into piles that are 20 weather can also kill small feet high, 200 feet wide and seedlings.

1,000 feet long.

Throughout the growing The piles are ventilated, season, soft rains of about and fans blow cold air into one inch per week are ideal. them so the beets can be Michigan Sugar Company

HARVEST Continued from Page 2 The company invested about $17.1 million of new capital at its four factories, including $12.2 million to upgrade the Croswell factory as part of an effort to increase sugarbeet slicing capacity by 50 percent — from 4,000 tons per day to 6,000 tons per day.

The work in Croswell included installation of new juice storage tanks, beet slicers and juice filtration equipment. It marked the third year of upgrades as part of a five-year plan.

Still Hiring Ruhlman said all Michigan Sugar facilities are still hiring.

“Anyone who’s looking for work, we would love to have them,” he said.

To learn more about available jobs and to apply, visit www.michigansugar.com and click on the “Careers” link.

stored outdoors for more than 100 days.

The beets are floated into the factories. Stones are separated out.

Next, the beets are washed and fed into a machine that slices beets into long, skinny pieces, which are perfect for extracting sugar from the beet.

The pieces are called cossettes, and are dumped into a diffuser — a large tank filled with hot water. As the cossettes move through the diffuser, the sugar comes out of the beets and goes into a solution of sugar water. Filters and cleansers made of lime and carbon dioxide remove impurities.

The sugarless pulp that remains will be turned into animal feed.

The sugared juice is heated to remove water. The evaporator station consists of several vessels containing thousands of tubes.

Boilers produce steam, which is applied to the outside of the evaporator tubes while the juice passes through the inside.

After being filtered again, juice is thick enough that crystals form.

It is now ready to have the crystalized sugar separated from the concentrated juice.

The crystalized sugar is spun around at high speeds in a centrifuge machine, removing the molasses that

did not crystalize. The damp sugar then tumbles through hot, filtered air to dry.

The dry sugar is cooled and conditioned, then stored in a silo for packaging or shipment in bulk trucks or railcars.

The sugar is packaged in smaller Pioneer Sugar and Big Chief Sugar bags in two-, four-, five- and tenpound sizes. The bags are delivered to grocery stores throughout Michigan and the Midwest.

Some sugar is packaged into larger bags holding 25, 50, 100 or 2,000 pounds.

These are delivered to food manufacturers who make cereal, yogurt, cookies and more.

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Soil holds the secret to mitigating climate change Michigan State University Extension Food production doesn’t have to be a victim of climate change. New research from Michigan State University suggests that crop yields and the global food supply chain can be preserved by harnessing the critical, and often overlooked, partner in food supply – soil.

The research, led by MSU Foundation Professor Bruno Basso and published in Agriculture and Environmental Letters, is the first of its kind to provide critical insight to the importance of soil in managing risks associated with climate change.

“The long-term sustainability of agricultural systems strongly depends on how we use soil,” Basso said. “This research proves that with the application of innovation through

better soil management, we’re one step closer to preserving our food supply and mitigating the effect that climate change and global warming has on our lives.”

By learning how to scientifically harness, protect and improve soil’s health, Basso’s findings prove that crop yields can continue at current production levels or even improve – especially if coupled with adaptive farming practices.

“Up until now, research hasn’t accounted for what soil gives back to the cycle of climate change, and it is arguably the most critical resource to adapt to mitigate its effects,” Basso said. “Ultimately, soil is the ‘home’ of the plants. If we aren’t caring for the soil, plants and crops are unsheltered and left to deal with climate change on their own.”

Basso’s research was part of the

Agricultural Model Intercomparing and Improvement Project, or AgMIP, a global initiative linking climate, crop and economic modeling communities to assess the fate of food production under climate change.

Basso spearheaded AgMIP’s soil initiative and proposed that moving forward, soil be positioned as the center of the food production cycle.

“We went into the project knowing that with climate getting hotter, crop yields are forecasted to be lower. If the yield goes down, it also means that the amount of carbon that is returned to soil also goes down, so the question we had was: ‘If this cycle continues, where do we end up, and what role will soil have? And, will we be worse off if we don’t look after soil?’ So we ran crop and soil models to simulate the impact of weather on a crop yield and soil organic carbon

to evaluate the feedbacks from soil to climate change,” Basso said.

Basso executed a series of models in Tanzania, Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands, France, the United States and Australia to test soil’s reactions to changes in temperature and carbon dioxide levels by analyzing soil organic carbon and nitrogen levels.

What the researchers found was that carbon dioxide compensated for the climate-caused yield losses because it acted as a natural fertilizer to help the crops grow. But when soil organic carbon losses were included in the analysis, the increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was not sufficient to prevent yield losses.

“So, through agronomic management, which is ‘doing the right thing See CLIMATE page 5

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To protect pollinators, go easy on the fall garden cleanup “Sometimes it’s hard to make the connection with the insects you see in the garden Time to rake up the yard, in the warm months with the deadhead the perennials and dried litter remaining when till the vegetable garden? Not it cools, but it’s important so fast. to keep that structure going Popular opinion is swingthrough winter,” Landau ing toward letting things stay said. just as they are through winSuch structure includes ter — decayed and drab but standing stalks of dead serviceable. plants, especially under flowDisplaying a messy yard er heads, where butterflies may not win any good-neigh- seek shelter. It also includes bor awards, but entomollayers of leaf litter that collect ogists say our vital but to protect larvae, egg masses, dwindling insect pollinator hibernating wild bees, dorpopulations would be much mant spiders and many other better off. beneficial insects.

“People are increasingly “Cavity-nesting bees may recognizing the value of hav- have made their home in old ing good habitat throughout canes of raspberries and perthe seasons,” said Deborah haps some ornamental grassLandau, a conservation ecol- es,” said Rebecca Finneran, ogist with the Maryland/D.C. a consumer horticulture chapter of the Nature Conser- educator with Michigan State vancy.

University Extension.

Michigan State University Extension

CLIMATE Continued from Page 4 at the right time for your crops,’ soil quality and health can be improved.” Basso said.

Basso explained how farmers can practice better agronomic management to protect soil against the effects of climate change. This should include the use of cover crops, conservation tillage, adding organic carbon to soil or by increasing yields through advanced genetics and agronomy.

The forward-thinking approach to crop management — and our global food supply — is largely grounded

at the root of plants’ life cycle in the soil they’re planted.

“The approach of accounting for soil’s feedback needs to become a rule when we use crop models when we want to identify adaptation strategies,” Basso said.

“The soil that we’ll deal with in 2050 is surely to be different than it is now, so recognizing how to manage it today — along with adaptation strategies for tomorrow — is critical.”

Basso’s research was funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture and by the Department of International Development of the UK.

“These two items usually are not cleaned up until spring anyway, but they also can be preserved by placing them (upright) in an outof-the-way location such as behind a compost pile, and the larvae will still hatch.

“The main thing is not to destroy the stems,” she said.

Pollinator cautions aside, which autumn landscape chores are most important, and which can safely be left until spring?

Build a priority list. Consider: • Giving your yard at least one last soaking before reeling up the hoses for winter.

• Planting a cover crop and adding new perennials including bulbs, trees and shrubs at a time when fall moisture can help establish

their root systems.

• Removing ailing plants to help with disease control during the upcoming planting season.

• Not disturbing bare soil where many wild bee species, including bumblebees, overwinter in small nests. “Many of our ground-nesting species will not be bothered by a general cleanup, but I will tell you that I had bumblebees working my late-blooming coral bells up until frost,” Finneran said.

• Delaying tilling. Put nature to work through winter with earthworms.

• Postponing pulling up your summer annuals and chrysanthemums until spring. They’ll trap whatever leaves blow by, creating their own enriching mulch while

shielding insects.

“What I tell people concerned about how things might look is just clean up in the front yard and let things go in the back,” Landau said.

“Remove any layers of material from the garden that might have fungus in it. But if it’s simply dead, leave it alone.”

Brush piles are great wintertime protection for a variety of wildlife species, and the more you can leave them untouched, the better, she said. “Otherwise, you might unearth or squash insect larvae.

“Leave at least a little corner of the property intact,” Landau said. “Any little bit will help since you have insects living in your garden the year-round.”

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Recommendations for harvest lodged soybeans Michigan State University Extension Several factors have combined to cause soybeans to lodge in some areas of Michigan in 2018. Abundant rain and high winds occurring in August were two of the culprits. Lodged soybeans slow down harvest operations and lead to harvest losses as the plants are more difficult to cut and gather into the combine.

Soybean producers can reduce harvest losses due to lodging by carefully adjusting and operating their combines. The latest Michigan State University Extension recommendations for reducing harvest losses in lodged soybeans are listed below.

Decrease your ground speed to 2.5 to 3 mph.

Position the cutter bar as close to the ground as possible.

Angle the pickup fingers on the reel back slightly to more aggressively pull the lodged plants to the cutter bar. Reduce the angle of the fingers if the plants are riding over the top of the reel.

Move the reel axle forward so that it is 9-12 inches ahead of the cutter bar.

Contact the manufacturer for specific recommendations if using an air-assisted reel in lodged soybeans.

When the reel is moved forward to pick up lodged plants, the performance of air-assisted reels decreases.

Consider pivoting the down tubes above the crop if this option is available or removing the entire air manifold.

Operate the reel as low as necessary to pick up lodged plants without causing them to ride over the top of the reel. Raise the reel if this happens.

Consider installing vine lifters on the cutter bar if the

plants are severely lodged.

If the plants are badly lodged in one direction, try adding vine lifters to the cutter bar and harvesting at a 30 degree angle to the direction of the lodging. If this doesn’t work, harvest all the lodged plants in the direction opposite to way they are leaning.

Try increasing the reel speed in relation to the ground speed. This sounds easy, but it can be challenging to find the correct ground speed and reel speed combination in lodged beans having brittle pods. If the ground speed is too fast in relation to the speed of the reel, the cutter bar will ride over some of the plants. If the reel speed is set too fast in relation to the ground speed, the reel can beat the beans out of the pods.

The reel should run 10 to 20 percent faster than the ground speed under ideal conditions. However, if the beans are lodged, increase the reel speed incrementally up to a maximum of 50 percent faster than the ground speed if necessary.

If the reel is causing shattering, decrease the speed of the reel just to the point that

the shattering stops. If the cutter bar begins riding over lodged plants, you will need to decrease your ground speed.

Make one adjustment at a time and stop frequently to evaluate your progress towards reducing gathering losses.

Finally, producers that had significant lodging at harvest should try to identify the cause or causes of the lodging. The most likely causes are excessive rainfall or irrigation during the vegetative and early reproductive stages, high populations, low potassium soil test levels and variety selection. Soybean varieties differ in their susceptibility to lodging and producers should consider this characteristic when selecting varieties.

Varietal differences are clearly depicted in Photo 2 taken at the MSU soybean variety performance trial near Hamilton, Michigan in 2016. The two varieties were planted at the same planting rate (160,000 seeds per acre), fertilized the same and experienced the same weather conditions. However, the variety on the left is badly lodged and the variety on the

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right is standing well. Planting date may also affect the potential to lodge as midMay to mid-June planting dates generally produce the tallest plants.

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The SMaRT project was developed to help Michigan producers increase soybean yields and farm profitability. The SMaRT project is a partnership between MSU Extension and the Michigan Soybean Checkoff program.

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Seeding the 2019 winter wheat crop October as soil and weather conditions tend to play a more important role.

Much of wheat’s yield While the Hessian fly no potential is determined at longer poses a significant planting. To attain top yields, threat to wheat in Michigan, seed as early as possible and the fly-free-date is still a take steps to achieve even and useful reference. The fly-freeuniform stands. date is during the first week of September in the northern SEEDING DATE lower peninsula, around midIdeally, winter wheat is September in mid-state areas planted while the soil and air and approximately the third temperatures are still warm or fourth week of September to insure the seedlings can for southern Michigan. Highemerge quickly in plenty of est yields are often attained time to develop a couple of when seedings are made tillers and a strong root syswithin two weeks following tem. In fact, beginning in late the posted fly-free-date.

September, potential wheat When wheat is planted within yields tend to slip at least one a few days of the fly-free-date, bushel for every day planting seeding rates and fall-applied is delayed. This relationship nitrogen rates should be sigmay not hold, however, once nificantly reduced. the calendar reaches late SEEDING DEPTH Attaining a consistent seed depth is important in that it will increase the probability of even emergence. Usually, a planting depth of 1 to 1.5 inches is sufficient in heavy soil. Deeper seed placement may have an advantage when some types of winter stresses occur, but usually this is outweighed by the advantage in more rapid emergence posed by more shallowly placed seed. Where planting depths of 2 inches or greater may advantageous is when a coarse soil is very dry. In this case, seed should be planted as deep as possible to reach Michigan State University Extension

Farmer or agronomist inspect quality of wheat in late autumn.

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SEEDING RATE Michigan State University Extension’s recommendation is to plant between 1.4 and 2.2 million seeds per acre. Seeding rates on the lower end of the range should be reserved for fields being planted within a week of the fly-free-date.

Using high seeding rates are discouraged when seeding relatively early as it may lead to overly thick stands that could increase the probability of lodging as the plants approach maturity.

As the calendar advances, seeding rates should become progressively higher. If planting continues into the second half of October, the seeding rate should be increased to at least 1.8 million seeds per acre. The seeding rates should also be adjusted upward when seed is of questionable quality.

Table 1 identifies the pounds of seed needed based on the number of seeds per pound and your population target. For example, if the seed bag specifies 14,000 seeds per pound and the target seeding rate is 1.8 million seeds per acre, 129 pounds of seed would be needed per acre.

Table 2 is useful for assessing the number of seeds being dropped by each row unit (7.5-inch row spacing) and for evaluating actual emergence.

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Estimating corn yield potential before harvest the number of ears by 1,000, and you will get the numbers of kernels per acre.

Estimating corn yields is something Do not count aborted kernels or those pretty simple—for the most part—and on the tip of the ear, since they will not the numbers get more accurate as corn add to the overall yield. To get a more gets closer to maturity and as the samprecise estimation, avoid odd, non-reppled areas represent the variation of the resentative ears. field. Samples should be conducted for Overall, we accept an average of every 10-15 acres. If you have 30-inch 75,000 to 80,000 kernels per bushel for corn, select a row and measure 17 feet 4 excellent grain filling conditions; 85,000 inches with a tape (17 feet 4 inches is the to 90,000 kernels per bushel for average; length of the row to equal 1/1000th of an and 95,000 to 105,000 kernels per bushacre). Narrower rows will use different el for poor conditions. When choosing lengths. the right filling conditions, take into conCount the numbers of ears in that sideration the management practices, row, then pick two to five corn ears to weather conditions, nutrient availability count the number of kernels per ear by and hybrid used. Based on how your seamultiplying the number of rows by the son went, select which one to use in your number of kernels within each row. Next, calculation. multiply the number of kernels per ear by Now, with this information you will be Michigan State University Extension

able to estimate the number of bushels per acre. Divide the number of kernels per acre by the average of kernels per bushel based on your field condition, and this will give you the estimated yield for your field. Example: • Number of ears: We counted 24 ears in 17 feet 4 inches. (Don’t forget you are doing that for every 10-15 acres).

• Number of ears per acre: We multiplied the number of ears by 1,000 (24 ears x 1,000= 2,4000; 17 feet 4 inches is the length of the row to equal 1/1000th of an acre).

• Number of kernels per ear: We chose two to five ears for each row and counted the number of rows multiplied by the number of kernels per row and averaged the number in between the five ears. The average number of kernels per ear was

385 kernels per ear.

• Number of kernels per acre: We multiplied the number of kernels per ear (385) by the number of ears per acre (24,000). The result was 9,240,000 kernels per acre.

• Bushels per acre: The last step was to discover the number of kernels per bushel. We had to divide the number of kernels per acre (9,240,000) by the average number of kernels per bushel (given earlier). Since we considered our corn growing in poor conditions, we divided 9,240,000 by 105,000 (average kernels per bushel for poor growing conditions).

The result was about 88 bushels per acre.

For more information on this topic or any other one related to agriculture, contact your local Michigan State University Extension county office.

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