%0 Journal Article
%A Ruffing, B.J.
%A Heinemann, W.H.
%D 1971
%F nwisrl:82
%J Transaction of the ASAE
%N 1
%P 12-13
%T Sugar Beet Plot Harvester
%U https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/82/
%V 14
%X SUGAR beet companies, state experiment stations, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service use replicated plots to evaluate sugar beet yields as influenced by varieties, fertilizers, water-management practices, etc. As a result, many people need some type of sugar-beet, plot-harvesting equipment. Plots frequently are up to 50 ft in length from which two to eight rows may be harvested. Harvesting sugar-beet plots by hand involves a great deal of manual labor. Beets are first undercut, then pulled and topped by hand, piled in the center of the plot, counted as they are placed in a wire basket, and lifted by hand to a scale for weighing. This method is slow and expensive.