Sustainability in the value chain
The agricultural raw materials we use are mainly of European origin – thus they meet the strict requirements for agriculture in the EU. In addition, we encourage our growers to take initiatives such as flower strips.
We obtain the majority of our agricultural raw materials from contract farming. For example, annual beet supply contracts are concluded committing beet growers to comply with cultivation measures in the interests of sustainable agricultural management. To keep the soil healthy, sugar beets may only be planted in the same field every third year at the earliest. Plant protection programs comply with the guidelines of integrated pest management.
Special sustainability criteria apply to agricultural raw materials for ethanol production, compliance with which is stipulated in the contracts with raw material suppliers. This ensures that the biomass cultivation does not take place in areas requiring protection or that it negatively impacts biological diversity.
Silver and gold standard in beet cultivation
Südzucker AG is a member of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI), the leading global initiative for promoting sustainable farming methods. By actively participating in SAI, we document our adherence to comprehensive environmental and social sustainability criteria in compliance with the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) in the sugar, special products, starch and fruit segments.
Südzucker and its sugar beet growers were again able to demonstrate adherence to the SAI sustainability criteria in 2023 by receiving the RedCert2 certificate. Every year, more than 200 external audits are carried out at the growers’ premises as part of the certification process. In fiscal 2023/24, FSA Gold status – the highest FSA rating for sustainability – was achieved in Germany, Belgium, France and Poland. Chicory growers in Belgium also have FSA Gold status.
Cultivation advice: living sustainability
More than 300 raw material consultants are available to support our supplying growers throughout Europe.
In this way we ensure that the latest findings on agricultural topics such as soil cultivation, seed selection, crop protection and soil fertility are quickly incorporated into farm practice – our contribution to modern and sustainable agriculture!
Digital Farming at the Kirschgartshausen experimental farm
Digital control and networking, machinery of the future – these are all topics we are researching in our recently founded experimental farm in Kirschgartshausen near Mannheim. Here, drone and robot say good night to each other! Our goal: We want to research innovations and sustainability in sugarbeet cultivation and make them available to our growers in the medium term.
To this end, we are conducting exact and large-scale trials, maintaining an exemplary cultivation facility for practical use and the public, and testing state-of-the-art machines from various manufacturers.
