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