The Ewen farm crew is in full harvest mode as multiple stages of this year’s beet harvest is captured in one picture Tuesday September 21 as early harvest was underway. Guy Smith, to the right, is driving the beet defoliator which defoliates (cuts) the top of the beets. Mike Krum, in the middle tractor, pulls the beet digger in order to extract the beets out of the ground while he loads Butch Ewen in the double axel tandem truck with beets to haul to the Huntley beet dump. Garret Smith drives the beet cart, left, and loads Shawn Smith in the semi truck and other trucks in order to keep all five trucks moving continually. (Drone Image by Jonahan McNiven)
The early beet harvest began on September 1st as well as factory operations. The State of Montana has completed 16% of the sugar beet harvest thus far “…Quality is excellent this time of year,” stated Randall Jobman, Vice President of Agriculture, North Region for Western Sugar since 2007. “Regular harvest begins the first week of October as conditions allow,” he said. read more
