Sugar and Fodder Beets for Stock and Sucrose
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Transcript of Sugar and Fodder Beets for Stock and Sucrose
Sugar and Fodder Beets for Stock and Sucrose
Three Classes of Field Beets
Mangels (Mangolds, Mangel-Wurzel) Fodder Beets True Sugar Beets
History of Field Beet Cropping Development in
17th and 18th century
Resulted in the “Gin Craze”
Used as an alternate sugarmaking stock in France under Napoleon
Now a major source of sugar and ethanol stock worldwide
Our Project Objectives:
Evaluate several non-GMO varieties for crop performance in an organic, diversified small farm setting
Develop a method of storing and processing beets, both for stock feed and value-added applications
Evaluate quality and marketability of final products and potential impacts on farm viability
Objective #1: Cropping
2010: Cropped 5 tons of mangels (red mammoth and yellow cylindrical) on ¼ acre.
2011: Planted 1 acre beet trial plot. Heavy spring rains rotted 80% the seedbed. Plot abandoned.
2012: Planted 1 acre beet trial plot on better-drained land. Heavy spring rains rotted 40% of the seedbed. Plot carried through to harvest
Field Beet general growing practices
Seed early (April if possible) Seek a well drained location, but beets grow in
a range of soil types Thin to one beet per 1-1.5 row feet Harvest in November for the highest weight
and sugar content Field beet classes vary in their ease of harvest On-farm winter storage of large quantities of
beets is easily accomplished with a clamp
Our Non-GMO trial varieties
Variety Yield per Acre, tons
Sugar content at harvest
Extracted juice sugar content
Notes
Scottish Fodder Beet
20.2 13% 17% Easiest harvest
Shumway's Giant Half Sugar Type
17.2 18% 22% Strongest germination
Monsterbuck Non-GMO deer bait sugar beet
14.6 17% 21% Weakest all-around performer
Betaseed experimenal energy beet #2
18.2 18% 22%
Storing and Feeding Field Beets
Use a “Clamp.” Feed beets whole or chop Process with a juicer and dry expelled pulp
Nutritional Properties of Field BeetsDietary Dry Matter
Total Digestible Nutrients
Crude Protein(DDM Basis)
Neutral Detergent Fiber(DDM Basis)
Acid Detergent Fiber(DDM Basis)
Sugarbeet Pulp
26.1% 76.1 6.6 45.4 27.4
Whole Root 23.8% 86.8 3.3 15.4 6.7
Whole Tops 36.7% 65.2 10.9 50.8 24
Our Attempted Sugar Making
Diffusion method - slicing and steeping
Centrifuge method –using a large vegetable juicer
Sugarmaking, Part 2
Boiling (similar to maple syrup) to crystalization temperature
Pan seeding Cleaning and evaluation of crystals
What We Learned
Field beets are a fairly easy grow if you have well-drained soil, but thinning and harvest are demanding
Non-GMO field beets had yields and nutritional parameters within standard national (GMO) ranges in an organic system
Non-GMO beet pulp is a possible value-added crop, if a drying system is available
Sugarmaking is challenging due to persistent off-flavors we were unable to eliminate
Distallation was also unsuccesful due to difficulty efficiently eliminating beet solids and the same persistent off-flavors that troubled our sugarmaking.
Why I still think that there is money in beets after all beets have put me
through 1 acre of beets: approximately 40,000 lbs Average sugar content of sugar beets: 16% Lbs theoretical sugar per acre: 6400 Cost of fancy crystal table sugar per lb: $3 Potential value-added, per acre: $19200 Cost of a fifth of microdistilled vodka: $25 Potential fifths of vodka per acre: 3200 Potential farm/microdistillery revenue per acre:
$80,000 Dry beet pulp per acre: 4,000 lbs Cost of “Speedi Beet” per lb: $1 Potential revenue from dry beet pulp per acre: $4000