Beet it!

In France, sugar beet is an industrially cultivated head crop. The current techniques are based on mechanical tillage and tend to deteriorate soil health in the long run, proving their limits to face increasingly severe climatic hazards. At the same time, farmers are in a dire situation since the ending of the European sugar beet quota, what makes it difficult for them to invest in change.

Beet it! is a project that supports French sugar beet farmers in their transition to regenerative agriculture, by fostering the development of farming practices that  improve soil health and biodiversity while helping farmers increase their businesses' sustainability and profitability.

It is led by a coalition of partners including Danone Ecosystem, DanTrade, industrial sugar cooperative group Cristal Union and the French regenerative agriculture cooperative network, Pour une Agriculture Du Vivant.

The project aims to support 200 farmers and 14 agronomists and technicians in the transition to regenerative agriculture, so that sustainable practices can be implemented on 2,500 ha of land. It will provide technical and financial support, research and development on machine adaptation, and market access to ensure farmers' economic stability during the transition.

Beet it! also focuses on a cost modelling goal, a communication plan and a the creation of a platform that will gather collective trainings, methods, tools and agronomists’ advice to be shared and disseminated in order to strengthen this French value chain.

Under the photo, some of the project's ambitions.