Improve Sugar Beet Storage in Open Piles by Efficient Aeration

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Lethbridge College (LC) is building research capacity in postharvest technology to develop engineering solutions for minimizing postharvest losses of grains, horticulture, and tuber crops. Southern Alberta, which is among the most fertile and productive regions in Canada with diverse crop production including wheat, canola, pulses, corn, potatoes, sugar beets in addition to significant livestock and dairy production, generates farm revenues of over $3.11 billion (Alberta Southwest, 2019). Southern Alberta farms provide high quality raw material for over 120 established agri-food businesses in the Lethbridge Region, including world leading food processors. Lantic Inc.'s plant in Taber, AB is the only sugar beet refinery in Canada. This plant processes one hundred percent of all sugar beets grown in Alberta (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, 2017). There is an intensive focus on sugar beet production in the southern Alberta region. After harvest and during the winter months, sugar beets are stored in open ground piles before processing. Significant losses occur in these non-aerated piles due to self-heating caused by respiration. The current project aims to improve storability of sugar beets by temperature monitoring and automated aeration of sugar beet piles.