Sugar beet farmers race to harvest 2025 crop

Two weeks into the sugar beet harvest, farmers are working around the clock to get their crops out of the ground. 

But why the rush? Tom Peters, a North Dakota State University agronomist, says once producers start piling up their sugar beets in early October, they’re racing against time to get them into storage before rainfall makes it difficult to dig the beet out of the muddy soil.

“They’re always concerned about that two or three inch rain event that makes muddy conditions that would make harvesting sugar beets very, very difficult,” Peters said.

He says producers in Minnesota and North Dakota have already harvested over a million tons of sugar beets thus far. Minnesota is the largest producer of sugar beets in the nation. 

And while yields this year are good, Peters says devastating storms in June affected production.

“We had a number of fields where we had standing water for a prolonged period of time,” Peters said. “So we lost a significant number of acres due to some of those rain events.”

However, current production remains at full speed, often 24 hours a day, with farm workers harvesting in 12-hour shifts. And if no significant rainfall comes, Peters expects the harvest to be over in about a week.

That means those driving on Minnesota highways might see trucks carrying sugar beets in their travels around the state. Peters says drivers should maintain a safe distance, as it’s quite common for beets to fall off of a moving truck.