THE PREPILE PREMIUM SYSTEM IS IN PLACE TO ENCOURAGE SHAREHOLDERS TO DELIVER A PERCENTAGE OF THEIR CROP early. This allows the Company to maximize the campaign length and fully utilize assets to maximize shareholder returns. The prepile payment system has been extensively studied and reviewed. It was revised in 2010 to ensure growers are compensated fairly for the beets delivered.

The Agriculture Department analyzed data from 611 complete contracts delivered in prepile versus 2059 contracts delivered entirely in stockpile to compare revenue per acre. The results are shown in graph 1. The prepile contracts had $24 per acre greater revenue. Every effort is made to make the Prepile Payment System as fair as possible.

Harvest Field Selection Strategies to Maximize Profit

Many agronomic and economic factors have to be considered when determining which fields can generate the best revenue possible during prepile. Other non-economic factors may affect the field harvest order for both prepile and stockpile.

Prepile Harvest Strategies

• Harvest high sugar content fields first - especially with high yields too
• Send samples to the EGF lab to check crop quality before harvest
• Avoid high N fields due to low sugar percent
• Deliver entire high quality fields versus opening on headlands, ditches, or other poor areas to maximize prepile payment
• Scalping improves quality of low sugar fields that must be harvested
• Avoid fields with moderate to severe disease problems
• Avoid low plant population fields
• Avoid replanted or late planted fields for pre-pile
• Coarse textured soil type fields often have low sugar content

How to Plant Early in Wet Years

The 2011 spring presented numerous challenges to get the crop planted on time, about May 10 or earlier is optimal. The production practices providing the greatest opportunity to plant early in 2011 in priority order were:

1) Tile drainage 2) Ridged fields 3) Very good surface drainage

Two weeks earlier planting can mean up to 4 tons per acre and 0.5% more sugar

Is this increase all due to tiling? That's difficult to say, but one benefit of tiling is more consistent/stable production, which is evident looking at these last 3 beet crops.

Yield Monitors - Don't Go to the Field Without One!

Almost every farmer better understands the yield potential of his land because of yield monitor use on the combine. Every beet grower should consider use of a yield monitor on his beet harvester. Benefits of having a beet yield monitor could be to:

• Evaluate benefit of production practices eq fertilization, fungicide use, etc.
• Evaluate variety performance
• Determine impact of diseases
• Correlate to satellite imagery
• Determine impact of drainage
• Do on-farm testing
• Avoid overloading trucks - APHIS compliance