The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1936-11-12
VALLEY SETS
NEW RECORDON
SUGAR BETS
Idaho Company to Reopen
Factory at Toppenish; New
Variety Promises Farm
Profit in this Section

An all time record for sugar oeet
rroductioii in the United States was
set in the Yakima Valley this year.
An average net tonnage OF lS.Ol
.ons per acre was secured Tor the
Toppenish factory district which
evceeds the average tonnage for any
ether district in the country, &C
cordinp to RI. Howard, manager OF
the utah-Idaho Sugar company 1or
the state of Washington. MIR. How
ard said, This is not a fictitious fig
IRE for we included every acre har-
vested in the valley this year. When
II is considered that many OF the
farmers raising beets were new
growers without previous experience,
fhe tonnage produced is nothing
short of phenomenal. With lmproV-
ed cultural practices, with addition
If nhosphate and manure fertilizers,
earlier seeding, and better use OF
irrigation water, I hesitate to pre-
dict what our limits will be Tor ton
mage per acre in the Yakima valley.
The results justify our faith in the
new blight resistant seed and con-
firms the wisdom of the decision OF
company officials to rebuild the
sugar factory at Toppenlsh. Con-
struction work on the factory has
been in progress since the middle OF
August, and the estimated cost will
be close to a million dollars"
Ernest Rowe OF Toppenish topped
all growers with a grand average
OF 28.17 tons per acre. With the SUI
aar company announcing an initial
advance payment of $5.25 per ton,
Mr.. Rowe received $147.89 per acre.
Additional payments per ton will be
made to growers by the sugar COM
pany between now and next Oct
ober, the amounts depending upon
the price received from sales OF SUI
gar during the year. Yakima beet
raisers will grow beets in 1887 UNI
der the participating type OF con-
tract agreed upon by The Nation
al Beet Growers Association and
the Sugar Companies, and approved
by the United States Department OF
Agriculture. One hundred : nine
growers harvested an acreage Of
971.41 acres this year with a pro-
duction Of 17,493 tons and 1448
pound. OF the total number, only
six growers failed to secure at least
ten tons per acre.
The cost of producing sugar beets
in the Yakima valley this year, as
determined from growers figures,
approximates $4,000 per acre. This
amount includes all contract labor,
seed, blowing, narrowing, planting,
cultivating, labor in irrigating, lift
ing, hauling to beet dump, but does
not include cost of water or taxes,
Net returns from sugar beets indi-
cate profitable cash crops in the fu-
ture.
In addition to the cash returns,
growers say the beet tops are a by
product of real value. Edmund Brit
ton of Toppenish, reports that the
sale of his tops brought him $500
per acre. Most growers prefer to
feed beet tops to their own live
stock thus securing greater returns.
With the Toppenish factory in OPP
Grafton next fall, beet farmers will
have first rights to the molasses and
pulp which is the resulting residue
from the beets after the sugar has
been extracted. Farmers in other
beet-growing areas have found beet
pulp to be an excellent nutritious
live stock food and it is expected
that the thousands of tons of this
feed to be available will be a boon
to cattle and lamb fatening enter
priseS on Yakima valley farms.