Sugar Beet Drilling 2014

We drilled our sugar beet last week. We are growing just under 100 acres this year because British Sugar, our only customer, has guaranteed the price of our whole crop, not just the contracted tonnage. Normally we would prepare the seedbed with two passes of a simple harrow. This year because we have had virtually no frost over the winter the land is hard and cloddy with no light, crumbly frost mould and on the heavier land we have needed two passes with slower and more expensive power harrows, see video. This will be a recurring theme throughout the spring and of course we can expect earlier infestations of insect pests.