By making the best use of water, irrigation managers can free-up both water and equipment for use on other crops or other land. Seed-producing crops respond more to irrigations during one particular stage of development than during other stages. Some of those crops include corn, barley, sunflowers, wheat and beans. Sugarbeets are quite drought tolerant. They can withstand extended periods without rainfall or irrigation water by using water stored in the soil.
Limited water can even increase the efficiency of sucrose production.
Sucrose yield per unit of water use can be increased above that where maximum water use is allowed, simply by cutting off irrigations three to four weeks before harvest operations. Sugarbeets are only moderately sensitive to plant stress, except during the early growth stages. Afternoon leaf wilting during hot, dry, windy conditions has negligible effects on total sugar production. Water can be used more efficiently on sugarbeets by applying one last major irrigation to recharge the entire soil profile at the onset of the major stress period. Sugarbeets adapt to limited irrigations by using deeply stored soil water and quickly recovering, when water is made available following major stress periods.