The sugar beets are scattered like gray, misshapen rocks on the shoulders of the roads leading to East Grand Forks. That’s the first sign that the October harvest is underway.
A sugar beet cooperative in western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota is turning to autonomous trucks to solve a driver shortage. Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative says the trucks can make the company more efficient.
Yields during the stockpile harvest, which was 99% complete on Oct. 23, 2023, averaged 31.9 tons per acre, said Steve Rosenau, the company’s vice president of agriculture.