Towards sustainable development of sugar beet cultivation – underlying basics and possible aims

For quite a while, there was no scientific discussion on the sustainable development of sugar beet production. The multiplicity of definitions and strategies appear as a misleading ball-of-wool. This paper summarizes theoretical aspects, such as wordings, principles, aims, and challenges of assessment schemes, on sustainable development of crop production in general. The aim is to enable a common understanding for harmonized and strategic decision making and certification. Further, we show the potential for the sustainable development of crop cultivation systems and point out specific options for the sustainable development of sugar beet cultivation. Nine of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (2015) provide a guideline for the sustainable development of crop cultivation. We identified four general fields of action: (i) enhancement of yield stability, (ii) tackling of ecological challenges, (iii) enablement of risk assessment and forecast, (iv) development of certification schemes. We further identified eight major ecological challenges which can be addressed by nine crop cultivation activities. These were compared to Germany-wide information on current sugar beet cultivation. Therein, we identified the following activities that need to be in place: (i) establishment of forecast and risk assessment systems for decision support and for precision farming in irrigation, pest and disease management, fertilizer application, harvest timing; (ii) protection and increase of soil organic matter and soil structure by permanent soil cover, strip tillage and direct sowing, and reduction of heavy loads during harvest; (iii) increase of aboveground biodiversity, especially by integration of (semi-)permanent elements such as grassland, flower strips, hedges, and by crop rotation diversification especially using legumes and plants for permanent soil cover; (iv) reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by removing the leaves after harvest and by reducing diesel usage wherever possible.