Drought could reduce Nebraska sugar beet crop by one-third

Leo Hoehn is concerned for his community. And that worry grows from empty sugar beet fields.

“We are having an incredibly tough year because of the drought,” Hoehn said. “It’s extremely difficult for the farmers. It’s difficult for the community.”

Nebraska, especially the western part of the state, is in the midst of a severe drought, one of the driest years Hoehn has seen. He’s worked jobs ranging from field hand to vice president of a sugar company. While he’s retired now, his thumb is still on the sugar beet pulse of Gering, which is currently in an exceptional drought, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.

Even occasional rain isn’t enough, Hoehn said.

The problem became apparent over the winter, which was particularly mild for the region and the mountain ranges that usually feed into rivers during spring as the snow melts. The winter of 2025 was also mild, but a burst of summer rain helped revive the region. However, farmers are still waiting for rain this year.

“It’s going to be difficult on the whole region because this is an agricultural area,” Hoehn said. “There won’t be as many people employed by the sugar company.”

Jerry Darnell, vice president of Nebraska agriculture with the Western Sugar Cooperative, confirmed that the sugar beet crop will be down by nearly one-third this year. While the cooperative generally produces 45,000 acres, it only has enough water to irrigate about 31,000 acres this year.

John Thomas, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln extension crops and water educator, estimated that 18% of farmers in the Platte Valley rely on irrigation water that, thanks to little snowfall or rain, is running dry.

“Our irrigation season is going to be very short,” Thomas said. “We may only have 30 to 45 days of water, which is not enough to raise a beet crop.”

An April UNL report found that 62% of groundwater well levels are declining under the drought, particularly in the Panhandle.

Some farmers will take an insurance check to not plant their beets since they wouldn’t yield a good crop. Thomas said this is called a prevent plant. Many farmers have wells they can fall back on, and Thomas said he is not concerned about the sugar crop overall.

“It’s not like the sugar industry is going to collapse or something like that,” he said. “There’s going to be some less beets than usual, but the beet industry will be OK.”