Fostering biodiversity

Sustainable farming, for us, doesn’t stop at the crops we harvest – it goes beyond that to see what can be done on the field in general.

At Südzucker, we see it as our responsibility as a leading provider of food ingredients, such as beet sugar and sugar specialities, with close ties to agriculture, to play a role in fostering biodiversity in our local ecosystems.

That’s why we combine our infrastructure with the scientific know-how of internal and external experts to proactively work on solutions that have an actual, lasting effect – based on measurable impact.

Our Biodiversity Goals

KPI: Total size of flower strips across Südzucker beet-growing countries.
Base year (2018): approx. 60 ha
Target (2024): approx. 250 ha
Results (2025): approx. 280 ha

At the Südzucker Sugar Division, we promote biodiversity together with our local beet farmers. Fostering biodiversity is our second key impact area. We work with farmers to conserve local ecosystems and have committed to more responsible water use. Flower strips play a crucial role in regional biodiversity, so our goal has been to expand their number and size across all Südzucker beet‑growing countries.

We are pleased to have reached 280 ha of flower strips by 2025, with more to come.

To support more responsible water use, we are improving water management in the clearing ponds at our production sites. We are also building collaborations to enhance bird habitats and raise awareness of this issue. To reach our goals, we aim to increase understanding of flower strips and their value for biodiversity, for example through Sustainable Farming Days and events on our farmers’ fields

From Field Research to the Südzucker Biodiversity Alliance

In order to facilitate this, the Südzucker Sugar Division has created the Südzucker Biodiversity Alliance – an alliance between our farmers, Südzucker and interested industry customers to jointly promote biodiversity. Together with IFAB (Institute for Agroecology and Biodiversity), we have developed a biodiversity catalogue of measures, from which farmers can choose measures to implement and then monitor their progress. Participating farmers are renumerated for their efforts on top of the regular beet price.