34 T H E C U B A R E f I E JV 



U. S. Beet Area 



The Department of Agriculture's annual summary of sugar beet acreage in the 

 United States and its estimate of the probable output of beet sugar, based on conditions 

 as of July 1st. was made public recently. The report places the area in beets at 606,000 

 acres and forecasts the yield of sugar as 656,900 tons of 2,000 pounds ( 586.518 long tons). 



Decrease 176,000 Acres 



According to the government report the falling off in acreage as compared with 

 1921 amounts to 176,400 acres, or 31.3 per cent., while the reduction in estimated 

 yield is placed at 35.5 per cent. 



Statistics of acreage planted and harvested, beets harvested and worked and sugar 

 produced for 1921, as also the average for the five years 1916-20, with the estimated 

 figures for 1922, are given by the Department of Agriculture as follows: 



Average, 



1916-1920 1921 1922 



Area planted— acres 826,700 882,400 606,000 



Area har\-ested — acres 697,649 814,988 



Area harv^ested. per cent, of planted area 84.4 92.4 



Beetsproduced (1922 forecast)— short tons 6,623,000 7,782,000 5,132,000 



Beets worked— short tons 6,200,000 7,414,000 



Sugar made (1922 forecast)— short tons 832,457 1,020,489 656,900 



As will be noted by the above table, the shrinkage between acreage planted and 

 that brought through to harvest has averaged 13.4 per cent., the average yield of 

 beets per acre has been 9.5 tons, and the average yield of sugar per ton of beets has 

 been 268 pounds. Apparently the expectation of the department officials is that the 

 present crop is to be regarded as an average one, but not equal to that of last year 

 either in probable yield of beets or in sugar content. 



Acreage by States 



The acreage by states is shown by the following table, to which has been added 

 for purposes of comparison the figures for 1921 as reported on the corresponding date: 



.\creage, Acreage, 



State 1922 1921 



California 62,200 135,600 



Colorado 165,200 214,100 



Idaho 33,200 52.700 



ISIichigan 95,400 163,800 



Nebraska 54,000 71,600 



Ohio 31,400 35,700 



Utah 79,900 110,900 



Wisconsin 17,800 18,300 



Other States 66,900 79,700 



606,000 882,400 



According to these figures the heaviest decrease in plantings has taken place in 

 California, where the falling off has amounted to over 50 per cent. In eastern territory 

 the decline has been about 34 per cent., in the intermountain district about 30 per cent., 

 and in Colorado about 22 per cent. 



While the report of the Department of Agriculture does not include figures of 

 condition of July 1st on a percentage basis, the forecasts of beet yield indicates that 

 the condition of the growing crop was estimated on that date to be about 98 per cent, 

 of the average for the five years ending with 1920, and about 95 per cent, as compared 

 with the corresponding date in 1921. 



