Sugar beet harvesting advances with automation, soil protection, and digital logistics for cleaner, more efficient and competitive production

By Dr Klaus Ziegler, Eibelstadt; Christoph Ott, Eibelstadt; Dr Oliver Schmittmann,Bonn, Germany.

03 November, 2025 -113 countries around the world produce sugar – 42 of them from sugar beet; these are primarily countries with moderate climates such as those in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, the United States, China and Japan. Around five million hectares of sugar beet are harvested globally.

Bioethanol production, which necessitates additional cultivation areas for sugar beet, is often coupled to sugar production. Not only since the emergence of discussion surrounding the 'energy revolution', this has been joined by a further development, particularly in Germany, i.e. the fact that sugar beets are used in biogas plants to break up maize-heavy substrate compositions. An essential role is played here by the finding that the sugar beet has one of the highest dry substance yields of any crop in an easily fermentable form.