GROWING SUGAR BEETS IN COLORADO. 5 



data. In 1915 a combination survey and enterprise blank was used. 

 This record form not only provided complete information pertaining 

 to farm practice and farm costs in the production of sugar beets, but 

 it also furnished data showing the outcome of the entire farm business 

 for the crop year. The latter additions made it possible to compare 

 the sugar-beet enterprise with other important farm enterprises. 1 



DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRY. 



The building of a factory at Grand Junction in 1899 marked the 

 beginning of the beet industry in Colorado. The Twelfth Census, 

 taken that year, shows that 169 farms in Colorado reported on sugar- 

 beet acreage. The total acreage grown was 1,094, producing a total 

 of 6,656 tons, with a yield of 6.1 tons per acre. These estimates indi- 

 cate an average of approximately 6.5 acres per farm. This acreage 

 was produced largely in Mesa County, on the western slope. 



Ten years later (Thirteenth Census) the acreage devoted to beets 

 had increased to 108,082, with a total production of 1,231,712. tons, 

 an average yield of 11.4 tons of beets per acre. Weld County occupied 

 the first place in beet acreage in 1909, Larimer County second, Otero 

 County third, and Morgan County fourth. Government estimates for 

 1915 indicated that this acreage had been increased to 160,800 for the 

 State, with a prospective return of 1,706,300 tons, or an average of 

 10.6 tons per acre. 



The beet-sugar factory at Rocky Ford was erected in 1900. This 

 was the first plant to be installed in the Arkansas Valley. Five other 

 factories have been added since 1900. In the northern part of the 

 State the first sugar factory was erected at Loveland in 1901. By the 

 year 1906, eight other factories had been built in northeastern Colo- 

 rado (fig. 2). 



The acreage and yield per acre for the sugar-beet crop in the areas 

 surveyed will be found in Table I. While these figures cover only 

 five seasons, they indicate that some increases in acreage have been 

 made within the last few years. 



1 Studies which have been made by the Office of Farm Management indicate that the survey method 

 of securing information used in this study furnishes very reliable results when enough records have been 

 tabulated. This point is illustrated in the following table. 



A comparison of farmers' estimates with factory records, crop year 1915, average 



per farm. 



District. 



Greeley 



Fort Morgan. 

 Rocky Ford. 



Number 

 of farms. 



Acres in beets. 



Estimate. Factory 



26.1 

 37.1 

 22.3 



25.5 

 36.0 

 21. S 



Tons per acre. 



Estimate. Factory. 



15.5 

 13.5 

 11.7 



14.6 

 13.2 

 11.2 



Total receipts. 



Estimate. Factory 



$2, 355 

 2,897 

 1,429 



$2, 236 

 2,754 

 1,335 



This report is based on the records that were taken for the crop year 1915. The previous year's work 

 was checked in a similar manner, though in one of the districts studied several growers sold to more than 

 one company, so that complete reports were not secured for all farms. Taking the above groups as a whole, 

 there was a tendency to report the acreage and yield a little above the actual acreage and returns. 



