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 (2024): approx. 250 ha

At the Südzucker Sugar Division, we are committed to promoting biodiversity in partnership with our local beet farmers. This is why fostering biodiversity is our second key impact area. We have been working with farmers to conserve biodiversity in local ecosystems and pledged to use water more responsibly. When it comes to fostering regional biodiversity, flower strips have a huge impact. That is why it has been our goal to increase the total number and size of flower strips in all Südzucker beet-growing countries.

We are happy to share that we have achieved our goal of establishing a total of 250 ha of flower strips by 2024, and the process is still ongoing.

Additionally, to achieve a more responsible use of water, we are working on improving water usage in the clearing ponds next to our production sites. On top of that, we are engaged in establishing several collaborations to improve bird habitats and to drive more awareness to this issue.

To reach our goals, we aim to increase awareness and create a better understanding of flower strips and their impact on biodiversity (e.g. by hosting Sustainable Farming Days and press events on the fields of our farmers).

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 measurement catalogue, 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.