Michigan's sugar beet harvest is under way, but growers enter the field with more questions than answers about what the crop will deliver, Michigan Ag Today reports. Early dig began on 9 and 10 September, with Michigan Sugar Company's factories at Bay City, Caro, Croswell and Sebewaing scheduled to start slicing on 11 September; planting was delayed about three weeks in spring, pushing a harvest that normally starts in the third week of August.

Michigan Sugar says growers planted about 143,000 acres, roughly 4,000 more than last year, and forecasts 29 to 31 tons an acre — possibly more with favourable weather, which would put production about 250,000 tons above last year's. But Sanilac County producer Matt Frostic says the statewide potential masks wide variation: 'There's areas that are really good and there's areas that are just struggling to see tonnage in the beets.' 'It's a challenge on an average year; this year it's exceptional challenge,' he says.

The biggest threat is Cercospora leaf spot, a fungal disease that strips leaves of the ability to capture sunlight and limits sugar and tonnage. 'Presently, we're running out of fungicide options,' Frostic says; growers are rotating modes of action to avoid resistance, some spraying about every 14 days according to Michigan Sugar chief executive Neil Juhnke, and some may need two more applications before harvest. Controlling the disease also reduces inoculum for future years, and the cooperative is working with chemical and seed companies on new chemistries and resistant varieties.

Root aphids have emerged as a second concern in hot, dry, stressed fields, damaging or killing roots; Frostic likens their spread to spider mites in soybeans. That matters because the crop can still add seven to eight tons an acre in the next six weeks — but only on healthy roots: 'When that root isn't healthy and it has those issues, they either don't grow or they grow much slower, or they're dead.'

Michigan Sugar delayed early dig to give beets time to build tonnage and sugar, but that required August rain the state did not consistently get. 'We've got to have 70-degree weather with adequate moisture to really pack the tons and sugar on, and we've got to have the cooler weather at the end to get the sugar in the root,' Frostic says. Only about 20% of the crop is expected in early dig, leaving 80% for permanent pile; USDA forecasts US sugar beet production down 9% from 2025, while Michigan Sugar expects its growers to produce more.

Source: Michigan Ag Today