Fertilizer and Chemical Use on Sugarbeets

Wyoming sugarbeet producers applied 11 million pounds of nitrogen, 5.7 million pounds of phosphate, and 1.3 million pounds of potash to the sugarbeet crop in 2000, according to Jerry Thorson with the Wyoming Agricultural Statistics Service. Nitrogen and phosphate were applied to 97 percent of the 61,000 acres planted in 2000. Phosphate was applied to 42 percent of the acreage. Nitrogen was applied an average of 1.9 times during the growing season at a rate of 95 pounds per acre. Phosphate and potash were applied 1.2 times during the season with average rates of 80 and 41 pounds per acre.

Producers also applied 43,000 pounds of herbicides for weed control in sugarbeets in 2000 covering 87 percent of the acreage, and 97,000 pounds of insecticides for pest control on 79 percent of the acreage.

Agricultural chemical use information was part of a larger survey conducted after 2000 harvest to measure the cost of producing sugarbeets in Wyoming and 10 other states.

United States: Nitrogen fertilizer was applied to 98 percent of the U.S. sugarbeet acreage in 2000. Nitrogen was applied an average of 1.5 times with a total of 166.2 million pounds applied. Phosphate was applied to 92 percent of the acres in the 11 states surveyed with a total of 101.4 million pounds applied. Potash was applied to 50 percent of the sugarbeet acreage. About 58.8 million pounds of potash were applied.

Herbicides were applied to 98 percent of the sugarbeets in 2000. Percentages of acres treated ranged from 87 percent in California and Wyoming to 100 percent of the crop receiving herbicides in Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Oregon.

Insecticides were applied to 63 percent of the 2000 sugarbeet acreage. Usage ranged from treatment on 12 percent of the sugarbeet acres in Michigan to 95 percent of the acres in Idaho.

Fungicide treatments were applied to 72 percent of the sugarbeet acreage. North Dakota treated 96 percent of the acreage, followed closely by Minnesota and Michigan with 95 and 86 percent, respectively.