MOORHEAD, Minn. (AP) _ It's been a bitter harvest for many Minnesota and North Dakota sugar beet farmers.

Nearly a third of the crop in some parts of the two states is stuck frozen in the fields _ where it'll be left to rot _ after a wet October delayed the harvest until the weather turned too cold and the ground froze.

Insurance will cover only part of farmers' losses.

Minnesota is the largest sugar beet-growing state in the nation, and North Dakota is the second-largest. The two states account for 60% of U.S. sugar beet production, and beets account for more than half of the sugar produced in the U.S. every year.

While sugar prices have risen on the commodity markets, experts say they don't expect any impacts on consumer prices.

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