Tienen (The Brussels Morning Newspaper): In 2024, Erwin Boonen from Tense Suikerraffinaderij reported poor early weather delayed sugar beet planting until June. Last season yielded over 3.5 million tons of beets, producing 500,000 tons of sugar.
The 2024 sugar beet season started with big challenges for farmers and processing companies. Erwin Boonen, who is in charge of raw materials at Tense Suikerraffinaderij, said that the beginning of the season was tough because the weather was not good during the usual planting time. Normally, farmers plant sugar beets in March or April, which helps them grow well in the spring and summer. This year, however, unexpected weather and other factors made many farmers delay planting their crops.
What challenges did farmers face in the 2024 sugar beet season?
It has been said that in some places, farmers had to wait until June to plant their sugar beets, which made it tough because the beets needed time to grow and get sweet before harvest. This delay meant they had to adjust to a shorter growing season, which could affect how much sugar they produce and its quality. Earlier this year, the weather was cool and rainy, slowing crop growth and leading to lower sugar levels in the beets. But even with these challenges, the company is still feeling hopeful about the harvest.
According to Boonen things have gotten a lot better as summer went on. The warm days and cool nights have been great for the beets, helping them grow faster. This change in temperature has also increased the sugar content in the beets. Because of this, the sugar beet crops have made up for much of the lost growth and are now closer to the average sugar levels seen in the last five years.
In the last sugar beet season, over 3.5 million tons of beets were harvested, which is a big achievement for farming. This large amount of beets was collected and processed throughout the season, making sure there was enough supply for making sugar. As a result of this large harvest, 500,000 tons of sugar were produced, which shows how successful the campaign was. Even though there were earlier problems like bad weather, the large number of beets collected led to a good amount of sugar. They mentioned that this sugar is important not just for local use but also for exports, making it a vital part of the economy and supply chain.
