Nordzucker Post 3/2024 - 25 July 2024

Successful field days: smart solutions for sustainable and profitable beet cultivation

Many of the field demonstrations focused on mechanical weed removal. In Nordstemmen (Lower Saxony), for example, visitors were able to find out about various options for removing weeds mechanically with the utmost precision. Digital applications and AI are also increasingly playing a role in increasing yields and creating optimal growing conditions. At the field day in Pattensen (Lower Saxony), computer-aided hoes and drones demonstrated their ability to effectively differentiate between weeds and crops and cultivate them sustainably. Also in focus: using smart technologies to reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides. Keyword: spot application with precision field sprayers: Cameras detect the weeds, individual nozzles apply chemical pesticides to the individual plant – precisely and efficiently. Farmers were also able to find out about new sugar beet varieties at the field days. As the seeds for the 2025 campaign can already be sown, variety demos were used to discuss breeding progress and tolerance to diseases and pests as well as yield and quality performance.

‘At its core, it is always about reconciling economy and ecology and the question of what competitive and sustainable sugar beet cultivation can look like,’ says Wiebke Brauer-Siebrecht, Project Manager Smart Beet Initiative. ‘The large number of visitors shows that the solution- and practice-oriented approach is well received. The further development of sugar beet cultivation is a joint task. It is important that we share the knowledge and experience we gain in demonstrations, trials and projects with our cooperation partners with growers and quickly put it into practice.’