It is reported by StarTribune.

Yield forecasts are down more than a ton per acre — a decline of about 4 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture — as farmers gear up for the fall harvest.

«We are looking at a smaller crop than average», — said Kyle Petersen, a farmer near Murdock and chairman of the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative. 

According to the USDA's latest crop progress report, yields for sugar beets are 29,3 tonnes per acre, compared to 30,6 tonnes per acre last year. When beets are planted later in the growing season, their tap root has less time to develop, which prevents the crops from gathering nutrients and hurts overall yields.

Northwest Minnesota, where the American Crystal Sugar Co. is dominant, has been drier, and yields there are at or above our five-year average», — said Tyler Grove, general agronomist for American Crystal.