Optimizing nitrogen management aids sustainable and profitable sugarbeet production
Reducing nitrogen (N) rates in sugarbeet production may be possible without sacrificing yield, and early results from on-farm trials in Nebraska and Colorado suggest growers could cut inputs while maintaining profitability.
N plays a complex role in sugarbeet production, as insufficient rates can limit root yield, while excessive rates reduce sugar concentration and extraction efficiency, ultimately lowering recoverable sugar yield.
This tradeoff makes N management challenging for growers, directly affecting profitability, processing quality and environmental outcomes.
Therefore, improving N management represents a key opportunity to enhance both economic returns and conservation outcomes in sugarbeet production.
To address this challenge, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), in collaboration with Western Sugar Cooperative (WSC), has initiated a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)-funded project focused on optimizing N management for sugarbeet growers.
This five-year effort, running from 2025-29, aims to promote the adoption of Conservation Practice Standard 590, Nutrient Management for Sugarbeets, by validating reduced N fertilizer strategies to improve sugar yield and quality while reducing environmental losses.
On-farm research approach
Over the course of four years, the project will engage 50 sugarbeet growers across Nebraska and Colorado through on-farm, split-pivot side-by-side com-
parisons of traditional N fertilizer recommendations based on root yield and a new model based on the estimated recoverable sugar (ERS).
Small-plot research ex-
periments suggested beet growers can reduce N input without a yield penalty when they use the ERS-based N recommendation.
The traditional root yield model estimates eight pounds of N is needed to produce one ton of sugarbeet. In contrast, the ERS model estimates a lower requirement – about 6.5 pounds of N per ton of beet produced.
Thus, the ERS model reduces N fertilizer application by 45 pounds per acre for an average beet yield of 30 tons per acre.
This on-farm research aims to test the ERS-based N model on the farm scale and includes economic and environmental analyses to support the model.
Nebraska and Colorado were selected to ensure consistency in soil and N management and irrigation systems, thereby enabling a thorough regional evaluation of the new model’s effects.
The effectiveness of the ERS-based N model will be assessed by measuring environmental impacts and agronomic performance over the four years of the study.
Soil, water and plant tissue sampling, as well as measurement of environmental N loss via leaching and emissions will take place at 20 selected sites, while evaluation of root yield, sugar concentration, ERS and sugar loss to molasses; nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and economic analysis in the final year will take place at 50 selected sites.
There will also be a life cycle assessment to quantify broader environmental impacts.
Preliminary results
Results from the project’s first year, averaged across all locations, demonstrated reduced N inputs under the ERS model could maintain or slightly improve productivity while substantially minimizing environmental impact.
The N concentration in sugarbeet leaf, normalized difference vegetation index and NUE indicated the ERS N model did not limit sugarbeet N utilization.
Overall, compared with the traditional N treatment, the ERS N model resulted in a slight increase in root yield at 1.4 percent, sugar concentration at 0.6 percent and ERS at two percent; 18 percent less nitrous oxide emissions and over 80 percent less nitrate concentration in leachate water samples collected at a four-foot depth and a 23 percent and 25 percent increase in NUE based on the root yield and ERS, respectively.
Project progression
The primary objective of this USDA NRCS-funded project is to generate reliable, regionally relevant data associated with reduced N inputs.
Data collected from 50 farms will provide the foundation for future conservation incentive programs and confidence in nutrient management recommendations.
As a wholly grower-owned cooperative, WSC provides a trusted and direct pathway for sharing research results with producers.
Grower fact sheets, field updates and educational materials will be distributed throughout the cooperative to promote confidence in the ERS N model and to encourage adoption of improved stewardship practices.
Surveys conducted among growers before and after the study, in collaboration with the UNL Bureau of Sociological Research, will help identify barriers and opportunities for broader implementation.
Farmers enrolled in this project save on N inputs based on the ERS model and also receive $118.80 per acre for each acre on which N input is reduced as per the ERS model.
Incentives are meant to compensate for any foregone income due to potential yield loss but are paid regardless of yield outcome.
Through collaboration with WSC leadership and technical staff, UNL aims to support profitable sugarbeet production while advancing conservation stewardship across the northern sugarbeet-producing region.
Godfred Ankomah is a postdoctoral research associate in UNL’s Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Nicole Heldt is a research project coordinator in the the UNL Maharjan Soils Lab, Sujani De Silva is a PhD student in the UNL Department of Agronomy and Horticulture and Bijesh Maharjan is the UNL Extension soil and nutrient management specialist. This article was originally published by UNL on Feb. 24.
