Organic sugar beet cultivation: less manual labour thanks to robots and automatic planting machines

In organic sugar beet cultivation, weed control and the associated (manual) labour are the biggest challenges. In this video, Milo Stoecklin from Schweizer Zucker presents various solutions. Traditional beet sowing requires around 150 hours of labour per hectare. With the Farmdroid robot, this can be reduced by up to 80 per cent. To cover the costs of the Farmdroid, at least 10 to 15 hectares should be cultivated. Another option is to plant the sugar beet seedlings using traditional planting machines. However, this is associated with high logistics and labour costs. A group of farmers has therefore purchased an automatic planting machine. In order to cover the high costs, around 150 hectares have to be cultivated with it. All methods work well. The choice of suitable technology depends on the specific conditions of the farm, such as the topography and the availability of labour.
The video was filmed on the Streit family's farm in Aubonne on Organic Farming Day.