Box 5308 - Denver, Colo. 80217 CONTACTt Jim Lyon, Manager
Agricultural Information
Phone, 303/893-4702
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FOR RELEASE THURSDAY, OCT. 25, 1973
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-The $100 million mark in sugarbeet crop returns in five area states was topped for the first time Thursday (Oct. 25) with final payment for the 1972 crop to more than 4,000 growers who produce beets for The Great Western Sugar Company.
The record level was announced in Denver by James A. Krentler, chairman of the board of GW Sugar, a subsidiary of Great Western United Corporation.
Krentler said total 1972 crop returns aggregate $109.4 million, or an average of $20.13 per ton of beets, in the areas served by GW Sugar in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Montana and Wyoming.
Total returns for the 1972 crop were $15.5 million higher than the previous record payment for 1971 beets of $93.9 million, an increase of 17 percent; while average per-ton returns were up $2.22 from the previous high 1971 average of $17.91, an increase of 12 percent.
The final payment for 1972 beets came to $10.1 million, or an average of $1.86 per ton.
Beet Payments Page 2 • • •
The figures on the total returns include Sugar Act payments financed by a federal tax on the sugar industry. These totaled $12.3 million, or an average of $2.26 per ton.
Krentler said the 1972 record payments indicate continuing strength in the sugar market, a prime concern to beet growers since under their unique contract with Great Western they share in the net proceeds on the sale of sugar throughout the marketing year ending Sept. 30. The strong market, he added, results in large part from the fourth straight year of world sugar consumption exceeding production.
The GW Sugar chairma.~ also reported on the harvest of the 1973 beet crop, now underway. Harvest operations were delayed slightly by rain at the start, he said, but now are about on schedule with nearly 60 percent of the crop delivered to the company's 15 sugar factories in the five states.
Krentler said sugar content was excellent in most localities, while tonnage was above average in Nebraska, Montana and Wyoming. Beet yields in Colorado and western Kansas, like those of other crops, are below average because adverse spring weather delayed the growing season.
(localized)
Beet crop returns in the Billings and Lovell production area totaled $19,3 million or an average of $20,14 per ton, The figure was reported by Lee E, Butler, area agricultural director at Billings,
Butler noted that these were also record figures for the area and pointed out that the $20.14 average per ton was $1,32 more than the average for the 1971 crop,
On the harvest, Butler reported that the Billings-Lovell area was ahead of other areas in the company with about 80 percent of the crop delivered to the factories or receiving stations.
Beet Payments Page 3 • • • (localized)
Beet crop returns in the Colorado production areas, including parts of western Kansas and central Nebraska, totaled $62.S million or an average of $19.92 per ton. The figures were reported by Ralph
w.
Hettinger, North Central Colorado area agricultural director at Longmont, and James F. Gonyou, Northeast Colorado and Kansas area agricultural director at Fort Morgan.They noted that these were also record figures for the areas and pointed out that the $19.92 average per ton was $1.92 more than the average for the 1971 crop.
(localized)
Beet crop returns in the western Nebraska production area, including
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Wheatland, Wyo., totaled $27,6 million or an average of $20.61 per ton. The figures were reported by Leonard H. Henderson, area agricultural director at Scottsbluff.
Henderson noted that these were also record returns and pointed out that the $20.61 average per ton was the highest for any major Great Western area and $1.94 more than the average for the 1971 crop.
