BRAWLEY — Jason Taylor, the owner and manager of TNT Management, set a new world record of 22,604 pounds of extractable sugar per acre this summer.
During this sugar beet season in the Imperial Valley, Taylor used Betaseed variety 5678 in a 130-acre field to average 77.91 tons per acre with a sugar content of 17.15%, according to Ag Daily.
Jason’s father, Ralph Taylor, who has been growing sugar beets in the Valley for 50 years, explained that he broke the previous gross sugar-per-acre world record in 2010.
According to the November/December 2010 issue of The Sugar Beet Grower, Taylor’s 144-acre record-setting field averaged 69.63 tons per acre, for a gross sugar total of 24,552 pounds per acre. That topped the former record by more than 3,400 pounds.
Work Required to Set World Record
Jason Taylor said that this year’s sugar beets followed last year’s dehydrated onions, which were beneficial for the crop. Taylor noted the importance of knowing how much fertilizer was needed to keep the field healthy. Some of the field was light in color, Taylor said, so he spread fertilizer two different times and spot-treated the field so it would be an even color.
“The field just really took off after that,” Taylor said. He germinated it in October, treated it in the winter through February and applied extra fertilizer in the winter and spring. Taylor said he used sprinklers to irrigate the field and watered it off and on as needed so the soil did not become over-saturated.
Taylor said he checked the daily loads to see how the sugar beets were doing and to ensure there was no rot. He added that he got the crop out right before there was rot, saying, “It was a good time to dig it out — max potential for growth and quality.”
As Taylor counted the rows he was digging and saw the number of trucks being filled with sugar beets, he recognized the significance of the harvest.
“I did the math and I said, Wow, that’s really good tonnage,” Taylor said. He checked the grower portal to see what the qualities and tonnage were and said everything was looking good. Taylor said Roger Colmenero called him in mid-July and told him that his field had the most sugar per acre that had ever been recorded worldwide.
Taylor said he let the workers know about the record and praised their role in his field achieving the best sugar production per acre in the world. He acknowledged his 35 full-time employees — tractor drivers, irrigators, sprayers, balers and rakers — saying that they work hard year-round and are skilled in what they do.
“I work hand in hand with these guys constantly,” Taylor said. He added that he plans to have a taco cart with some carne asada tacos to celebrate setting a new world record with the crew.
Taylor also emphasized the record’s importance to his family.
“My father found out and he said he was proud of me,” Taylor said. “He was excited. He’s 75, and he’s been growing beets for decades. Both of my grandfathers grew beets for decades before him. I’ve been working with them since I was a kid, so it’s pretty special.”
Ralph Taylor said that the record-breaking Betaseed variety 5678 was one of the newer varieties in use on the ranch, which he said performed well in the heat. Because sugar beets rot in high temperatures, Taylor said, it is a challenge to manage the fields in the heat of summer and early fall.
Jason Taylor thanked Matt Mills, a Betaseed sugar beet salesman from El Centro who sold him the seed. He also gave credit to the seed breeders, saying that he has bought Betaseed for years and consistently gotten a good crop yield from the high-quality seed.
Taylor said he germinated his first two fields last year on Aug. 30-31. This year, the last day of harvest was Aug. 17. If the Spreckels Sugar plant was still in operation, Taylor said, the cycle of planting and harvesting beets would continue, and he would plant his field with beets again.
Taylor said he would already have water on his beets and be ready for the next crop, but without the plant, this was not to be.
Spreckels Sugar Plant Closure
Taylor acknowledged the challenges the Spreckels plant closure poses to TNT Management. “It’s detrimental to my ranch,” he said of the factory being decommissioned. “It’s quite the ripple effect.”
Taylor explained that along with harming farmers, the shutdown will hurt fertilizer and tractor companies. Taylor said that with the loss of his sugar beets, he will not need to buy as many tractors or update his equipment as frequently as before.
He said he worried about layoffs on his ranch, noting that he had workers who used to come in on weekends, but now he is trying to limit those hours. At the same time, Taylor said, he recognizes that his employees need the work, so he said they are “trying to work together” to find solutions.
The plant closure is “definitely hurting the Valley,” Taylor said, expressing concerns about land values possibly dropping as a result. He said that since markets are already down, he does not want to over-plant other crops to make up for the lost sugar beets, saying this would only possibly depress the markets further.
“We have a lot of good, hardworking people in the Valley, and I’d hate to see all these people lose their jobs and move,” Taylor said. The Valley will not “really know the effect until a couple years from now,” he continued, but said he wants “the Valley to keep thriving and being a player in the agricultural world.”
“I hope that’s not the end of the sugar industry” locally, Taylor said. “A lot of county officials and local politicians are united and trying to focus on what steps we can take.”
Ralph Taylor also shared his thoughts on the closure, noting that sugar beets have been his “savior for the last 50 years.”
“It was kind of a surprise that the sugar factory decided to close after we had beets for 80 years,” Taylor said. “After having beets here for so long, it was kind of a shock to the Valley that we lost them.”
The Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Corporation, the entity which owns Spreckels, disputes claims that the plant closure was sudden.
“The decision comes after a thorough evaluation of the long-term financial and operational challenges facing the facility as well as an assessment of the economic challenges and uncertainty facing the sugar industry that have been building for several years,” SMBSC said in a press release.
Taylor echoed Jason in saying that he wants to adjust the farm to accommodate a new crop. He said that crops like alfalfa, wheat, sudan grass and Bermuda grass will not bring in much of a profit and added that it “will take time to figure out the best way to go.”
Taylor added that he wished cotton prices were stronger, but said the price is too low to make that crop profitable.
Final Sugarbeet Season
Roger Colmenero, the agricultural manager for the Spreckels Sugar factory, praised the Taylors for their successful season.
“I’m really excited for Jason and TNT,” Colmenero said. “They did an outstanding job. I really enjoyed working with them and all the farmers.”
Colmenero explained that in the past, before each sugar beet planting season started in September, Spreckels contracted with growers in July and August. Once Spreckels and the growers finalized the contract and farmers planted their fields, Colmenero said, Spreckels workers took measurements of the fields.
These measurements estimated how many beets were in the field, Colmenero explained, and also recorded the beet varieties and plant spacing.
Colmenero said that measurements started each October and ran through December, with the Taylors’ field being measured in early December. Every Monday, Colmenero said, he would run a report of the crops that were harvested. Data from the total field production was recorded at the scale house and included in the finalized reports.
Colmenero added that the Taylors planted an early-mid season variety, which he said tends to produce well but is more susceptible to rot. He praised Jason for timing his harvest well and “hitting the window perfectly.”
“He harvested the field right at the peak time before the heat started coming in and the rot started setting in,” Colmenero said. “The timing couldn’t have been better.”
Colmenero said that the plant decommissioning is going well, but said it struggled a bit in August. Because the sugar beets start to rot in August, Colmenero said, the quality started to go down, making it more difficult for the plant to process the lower-quality beets. Overall, however, he said the crop was strong, exceeding the preseason estimate by more than 10%.
Colmenero said that all growers combined “blew the forecast and yield estimates out of the water,” adding that “the plant actually performed really well during our main season.” He said the plant slowed down in August as it processed 132,000 tons of sugar beets late in the season.
“The crop was good, the farmers did an outstanding job, and we had pretty good weather,” Colmenero said. He said that the amount of the sugar beet crop lost to rot this year was only 0.4%, which Colmenero described as “impressive” since the loss is typically between 2-5%.
The plant will officially shut down at the end of September, Colmenero said. He said the plant is still producing sugar and is projected to finish before the month is over. The closure will “affect all of the farmers significantly, and some more than others,” Colmenero said.
He explained that farmers whose sugar beets made up 30-40% of their crop will be most affected as they lose their biggest source of revenue.
America’s Job Center
Spreckels direct employees or employees who work for another company impacted by the sugar factory closure may contact America’s Job Center of California in El Centro for help finding work.
The AJCC Rapid Response Team provides free services and resources, including information about unemployment insurance, job search support, and career counseling. For more information, contact the Rapid Response Team at 442-265-7180 or visit 1250 W. Main St.