6J Farms Garners Top Spot In 246+ Acre Category

6J Farms, Terry and Vicky Cayko, with essential help from Toby Miller and Cayko families Jacquelyn and Chris Free and Jessica Cayko and her two boys, East Fairview, earned top spot this year in the 246+ acre category of Sidney Sugars Incorporated’s annual top ten recognition awards. Cayko, who has farmed all his life, has been in the Top Ten six times, and has earned top spot twice.

Cayko admits the year looked dismal at the start, but as the season progressed, his crop responded to sun and moisture and produced extremely well. “A lot of my acres got flooded,” Cayko says, “but what survived really produced well. We had 87 sugarbeet acres totally gone from flooding, but as the season progressed I knew I had a good crop and everything just fell into place.”

Cayko believes that knowing the land and matching that soil type to the correct seed variety plays a key role in success. “Knowing your ground is essential,”’ he remarks. “Seed companies have different varieties, all of which are good, but you have to know your ground and your disease pressures and choose accordingly. The Valley has been in sugarbeets a long time, and there are a lot of diseases around, so you’ve got to be careful and choose the variety that best fits your soil type and the prevalent diseases. We’ve found our ground does best with BetaSeed.”

He adds, “We’ve also learned not to over irrigate early, especially in a wet spring.”

Cayko used 100% Roundup Ready beet varieties this year. He appreciates what Roundup Ready beets allow him to do, and he feels confident seed companies will continue to improve the ability of these varieties to produce more sugar. “We can do a great job on weed control with Roundup Ready beets,” Cayko remarks. “The sugar this year didn’t reach average levels, but we’re seeing a climate change around here and it is staying warm longer into the fall. This contributes to lower sugar content as beets need cooler temperatures to signal them to start producing sugar. However, varieties are getting better all the time and seed companies can offer varieties with better disease packages and with better sugar producing abilities.”

He adds, “It’s all a learning process with Roundup Ready beets, but we have a good group of growers and they will adapt.”

Cayko credits a lot of his success to his hired man, Toby Miller. “My right hand man is a God- send,” he comments. “He’s had so much experience farming on his own, and this really helps. If I have to go somewhere, Toby takes over and I know everything will be done correctly.”

Cayko enjoyed a good harvest this year, with his only delay due to warm temperatures in early October. “We started hauling to Sugar Valley and worked one day before we were shut down because of heat,” Cayko says. “We know we need to wait and let temperatures cool down because we can’t afford to put warm beets into the pile. This only hurts all of us as warm beets do not store well, so it was a good decision by Sidney Sugars to delay harvest for a week. We were then blessed that the weather held. This was one of the best harvest years we’ve had. The beets grew during that extra week, so everyone won.”

Cayko expects to continue farming for as long as he is able. “I love growing sugarbeets,” he concludes. “I watch that tiny seed grow bigger and bigger all summer. With Roundup Ready beets, there are no weeds, so I’m proud to look out and see the beets grow to maturity. That makes it all worthwhile.”