BERTIE 2001
	BERTIE was drilled on 30 April 2001. Like most sugar beet growers this season, we have had to be patient and wait until soil conditions were suitable for drilling. Fortunately, we had a short spell without rain and we were able to drill beet in this sandy loam field. Nearly half of the UK sugar beet is grown on these light soils. This has an advantage at harvest time, in that soil does not stick so readily to the roots, and, therefore, it is easier to minimise the amount of soil transported to the factory on the beet.

	<<  BERTIE 2001 - October

Results
Clean root weight		977g
Sugar content		17.5%
		170g
		42 sachets

		21 November 2001 : (2298 day degrees since sowing)
	BERTIE, in the full glare of the media, is pulled from the ground, after being lifted using a traditional beet fork.		Click for larger image
	Click for larger image	Experts (From left to right) Stephen Goward (Broom's Barn Field Trials Manager), Mike May (Liaison Officer) and Alan Thornhill (Plant Clinic Manager) inspect BERTIE for evidence of root damage. BERTIE is given a clean bill of health!
	Rebecca, one of the interviewers from Anglia TV, removed BERTIE's leaves using a beet knife and Stephen is checking that it is done to correct standard.		Click for larger image
	Click for larger image	Stephen and Mike weigh the root.
	BERTIE is carried off to be analysed, before heading to the factory to be processed.		Click for larger image
	19 November 2001 : (2281 day degrees since sowing)
	Click for larger image	It would appear that BERTIE is trying to hide amongst his neighbours. It won't work though, because Wednesday 21st November is the harvest day! The brown and yellow leaves in the foreground are coloured in such a way because the plant had virus yellows, which BERTIE escaped.
	12 November 2001 : (2267 day degrees since sowing)
	Although the temperature in the last week has been low and snow had settled on him, BERTIE is not showing any ill effects. After mild frosts some older beet leaves may die, but younger heart leaves usually survive. The result of this is that less sunlight is intercepted, so the plant growth rate (and photosynthesis) reduces. In addition, as the nights get longer, the amount of sugar used to keep the plant alive (respiration) during the night increases. The total effect of the lower temperatures, longer nights and less sunlight is that the growth rate of the beet plant slows down, so that the sugar content in the root remains fairly constant from now on. The beet is left in the ground until it is required for delivery to the factory, unless severe frosts are forecast. Beet freeze when their temperature falls to -3ºC. When frozen beet thaw the ruptured cells start to leak. This encourages the rapid growth of bacteria, which break down sucrose (the product extracted in the factory) into gums and invert sugar (glucose and fructose). Invert sugars are unstable in the factory process and can give rise to acid compounds whose presence causes still more sucrose to be split into invert. Also invert sugars result in the production of off-white sucrose crystals. To prevent freezing, beet is stored in clamps (shaped piles of beet), which are insulated and protected from frosts using straw bales and polypropylene/polyfelt sheets.		Click for larger image
	5 November 2001 : (2249 day degrees since sowing)
	Click for larger image	BERTIE is staring at his future. On the horizon, he can see the steam from the chimneys at the Bury St Edmunds British Sugar factory! In the UK, sugar beet is usually harvested between September and the end of the year. BERTIE will be hand dug with a traditional beet fork and then topped (to remove the leaves). He will then be washed and the amount of sugar inside him determined in our tare house at Broom's Barn. The rest of the beet in the field are topped and dug up by machine and left in clamps to await delivery to the factory. When the lorry comes to collect them, they are cleaned of excess soil as they are loaded. Once at the sugar factory the sugar content is determined and they are processed - chopped up and boiled (which extracts the sugar). The steam produced as a by-product of the boiling is used to generate electricity, before going up the chimneys. Animal food is another important by-product of the processing. Once BERTIE has been analysed at Broom's Barn he will go to the factory.

	<<  BERTIE 2001 - October