Sugar beet seed looks promising for future

Press, 20 February 1987, Page 12

Sugar beet seed looks promising for future

Mid - Canterbury fanners are about to barvest the second major sugar beet seed crop for export, not a day too soon or a day too late. A production officer for Wrightson grain and seed division, Mr John Duncan, has explained that timing is critical for the successful production of sugar beet seed. It is a promising seed crop, being grown under contract to Wrightson for a Swedish company, Hilleshog, by 16 Canterbury farmers on about 130 ha.

During 1985-86, 30 growers planted about 200 ha of sugar beet for seed production, a process which takes more than 12 smonths.

Tbe impetus for the development of this latest arable crop in Mid-Can-terbury was a very cold winter of 1985 in Europe and a developing shortfall in sugar beet seed production. Hilieshog is one of the largest seed companies in Europe and it was aware that Mid-Can-terbury had been proven to be a very good beetgrowing region. In somewhat of a rush, Wrightson selected

/rightson selected growers and helped them precision sow the first crops for seed in late summer 1985.

That crop was harvested in February 1986, returning about $2.65 a kg for yields between 400 and 1500 kgs a ha, and the quality has subsequently been confirmed as adequate by Hilleshog. Mr Duncan and the pro-

duction manager for Wrightson grain and seed, Mr Dave Melhuish, said seed quality parameters were very important for sugar beet Purity had to be a minimum of 90 per cent and germination. 80 per cent but then emergence also had to be very good and was separately tested by Hilleshog in “proof trials,” they said. Seed size had to be within 3.5 and 6mm, which was probably only achievable consistently in Canterbury with irrigation. Seed growers needed to be committed to checking the crop regularly and putting a good deal of physical effort into precision sowing, weed control, rouging of the 20 per cent of male plants after germination, cutting of the crop at precisely 30 per cent seed moisture content and harvesting about two weeks later.

Wrightson officers were learning along with farmers, said Mr Melhuish, and Hilleshog people were continually travelling to New Zealand to collect data and monitor progress.

But despite the direct growing costs of $l4OO to $lBOO a ha, the gross margins from a goodyielding crop this harvest is expected to be better than anything else grown in Mid-Canterbury. Wrightson has no shortage of growers offering their services.

The company has good expectations of a steady rise in crop area and seed contract volume, because

of a squeeze on traditional Northern Hemisphere growers.

Sugar beet seed , crops are easily contaminated, to produce "off lines,” by other beet volunteers or nearby beets which have gone to seed. Wrightson even went to the trouble of checking on silver beet gone to seed in surrounding vegetable gardens, within two kilometres of sugar beet seed paddocks.

New Zealand has an advantage in coming late to sugar beet and not having a history of fodder beet production. Even so, Wrightsons requires a 15year paddock history and warns that a lot of seed will be left behind from a harvested crop. The development of a successful seed industry is to some extent a welcome offshoot of the not-so-suc-cessful sugar beet and beet ethanol work in Canterbury over the last 15 years.

But any further development of wide-scale beet growing for sugar or alcohol would restrict the potential of the seed industry, because of the contamination risk. With the world freetrade sugar price at present very low, a sugar beet industry in Canterbury is still some time off, according to Mr Fred Newton, of the Canterbury Sugar Beet Development Society. This group of growers has spent many years proving the suitability of Mid-Canterbury for sugar beet growing, for

sugar, ethanol and for seed.

The sugar industry tn New Zealand has been deregulated but the one refinery continues to bring In cane sugar on-long-term contracts with Australia and Fiji. When the time is right, Mr Newton believes production of 40,000 to 45,000 tonnes of sugar from 7000 ha will be a profitable industry for Mid-Canter-bury, with a requirement for quite large numbers of employees. He and the Wrightson crop specialists agree that Mid-CanterbUry has the high sunshine hours, irrigation and free-draining soil types which are ideal for beet and seed production.