Beet yields 2020

[phr49]

How are we finding early yields did see some optimism on FWI site saying yields better than anticipated ........?!BS
predicting 10-15% reduction in yields as an average .
Had a colleague lift a fair tonnage Norfolk way with a disappointing 18 t acre adjusted .
Not looking forward to lifting some next week as look very yellow .....

 

[robbie]

I spoke to our haulier Wednesday and he was helping another haulier out Suffolk way and he thought the beet were doing about a load an acre but I travelled up the a11 yesterday and all the loads of beet I was on wagons didnt like much more than parsnips and very dirty too

 

[Breckland Boy]

I know a guy in South East Suffolk who averages mid eighties. This year is 60 at best. Always lifts early.
All 3 opened factories are running with low sugar and high dirt.

 

[JonL]

Only in 3rd year growing. First 2 mid 80s. This year mid 50s. 15.5% sugar. Heavy land

 

[Honest john]

Send an Invoice to Defra Minister.
COPY in Micheal Gove.

 

[Breckland Boy]

Only in 3rd year growing. First 2 mid 80s. This year mid 50s. 15.5% sugar. Heavy land

Are the lower yields due to the weather or virus?

 

[spin cycle]

Are the lower yields due to the weather or virus?

i'd guess the virus.....my fodder beet got badly hit but have greened up again.....but this has come from the root meaning lower root yield and in case of sugar beet lower sugars to

is it illegal to sell neo nic treated in uk or plant neo nic beet.....aka for fb growers could we 'mail order in from france'

 

[Rookie]

The Farmers Weekly has found at least one grower that seems to be getting decent yields especially this early on in the season.
Can't think there will be many more growers in a similar position.

 

[Trigger Happy]

That beet looks amazing, deep green, just an odd fleck of yellow, nothing looks remotely that good here, fields of yellow, drove past one tonight at dusk and you would have thought it had been sprayed with 4l of glyphos!

 

[JonL]

Are the lower yields due to the weather or virus?

Both but mainly virus I would say

 

[CJS]

That beet looks amazing, deep green, just an odd fleck of yellow, nothing looks remotely that good here, fields of yellow, drove past one tonight at dusk and you would have thought it had been sprayed with 4l of glyphos!

It’s either a old photo or British sugar should employ him as a fieldsman There’s hundreds of acres around here in Suffolk and that’s the greenest field I have seen in years

 

[Mixedupfarmer]

It’s either a old photo or British sugar should employ him as a fieldsman There’s hundreds of acres around here in Suffolk and that’s the greenest field I have seen in years

Had a good drive around East Norfolk last weekend, and the beet crops looked amazing, all green, big canopies, hardly any virus or disease. I could not believe it, to the point of phoning our fieldsman to ask why, as the beet on the fens are a disaster.

 

[DrWazzock]

Doing about 70 t/ha here off the harvester based on a rough calculation. Bad patches of yellow virus hit leaves but some considerable areas of better greener leaves. We are not as bad as some fields I have seen when out and about. We were hit quite badly with dry weather on the sand before cereal harvest. But tonnage wise I'd say we are about average. We have had 80 t/ha before on that same field. Last year for us, so nice to go out on a reasonable crop rather than on a disaster. Not sure what the sugars will be but will know this week. Just hoping we get it done without it getting too wet or the machine having a major breakdown. Only one boggy spot today, but away from it now. Rest of field travelling well. Feeling the cold as the machine has no cab. Thankful this is last year as I don't think my circulation is what it used to be!

 

[spin cycle]

Doing about 70 t/ha here off the harvester based on a rough calculation. Bad patches of yellow virus hit leaves but some considerable areas of better greener leaves. We are not as bad as some fields I have seen when out and about. We were hit quite badly with dry weather on the sand before cereal harvest. But tonnage wise I'd say we are about average. We have had 80 t/ha before on that same field. Last year for us, so nice to go out on a reasonable crop rather than on a disaster. Not sure what the sugars will be but will know this week. Just hoping we get it done without it getting too wet or the machine having a major breakdown. Only one boggy spot today, but away from it now. Rest of field travelling well. Feeling the cold as the machine has no cab. Thankful this is last year as I don't think my circulation is what it used to be!

no cab ...hardcore respect dat

 

[DrWazzock]

no cab ...hardcore respect dat

More like insanity. Happy memories though.

 

[phr49]

Hoping the haulier wont be too long when we do get some lifted as beet pad hard standing looks like a boating lake ............!!

 

[Hindsight]

Had a good drive around East Norfolk last weekend, and the beet crops looked amazing, all green, big canopies, hardly any virus or disease. I could not believe it, to the point of phoning our fieldsman to ask why, as the beet on the fens are a disaster.

Back in June / July it was note the area north of Norwich(East Norfolk) had far less virus. General consensus was end of April / early May wind mainly from the East off the sea and temperatures were markedly lower than inland. Far fewer aphids trapped in the BBRO yellow bowls in that area.

 

[ewald]

Doing about 70 t/ha here off the harvester based on a rough calculation. Bad patches of yellow virus hit leaves but some considerable areas of better greener leaves. We are not as bad as some fields I have seen when out and about. We were hit quite badly with dry weather on the sand before cereal harvest. But tonnage wise I'd say we are about average. We have had 80 t/ha before on that same field. Last year for us, so nice to go out on a reasonable crop rather than on a disaster. Not sure what the sugars will be but will know this week. Just hoping we get it done without it getting too wet or the machine having a major breakdown. Only one boggy spot today, but away from it now. Rest of field travelling well. Feeling the cold as the machine has no cab. Thankful this is last year as I don't think my circulation is what it used to be!

Drove past yesterday while you were lifting - we had a similar Solobeet with David Brown skid unit for many years.
One of the happiest days of my life when I parked it up and got contractors in!

 

[DrWazzock]

Drove past yesterday while you were lifting - we had a similar Solobeet with David Brown skid unit for many years.
One of the happiest days of my life when I parked it up and got contractors in!

i can well believe it was. We had thought about contractors but the yard is quite small and I don’t fancy our chances loading out of the field. Despite under drains, most of our fields can end up quite boggy in places. Establishing the crop is also quite fraught due to the sand tending to blow and the clay in the same field being difficult to make into a seedbed. Only this spring my wife and I were hand spreading horse muck out of the telehandler bucket on an acre that was getting airborne. It worked but it was a memorable way to spend a weekend for the wrong reasons. There are measures to mitigate these problems but we have come to the conclusion that in our circumstances it just isn’t worth the added complexity, stress and hassle with a beet price that seems stubbornly pegged in the low twenties per tonne. So the beet will be gone and the sheep will be gone and I’m not sorry at all.

 

[spin cycle]

dad with a ih 784 + standen rapide....me 4610+trailer....coffee + sarnies so didn't have to stop....endless cleaning of the shute....stones in the web.....the noise of those chains on a silent autumn day...beet £30/t....up to yfc exec suite with a fiver sat night to see what you could 'find'....i miss it

edit...i think i've posted something similar before...i get all sentimental about beet this time of year