German Sugar Beet Harvest Down by Up to Half in Parts of the South
Drought and pest pressure have badly hit the 2026 sugar beet harvest in southern Germany, while the north is slightly above average. In parts of Hesse, farmers are bringing in only half the usual volume.
Germany's 2026 sugar beet harvest is highly uneven: drought and disease pressure have sharply cut yields in the southern states, while the north is slightly above its long-term average. The German farming outlet agrarheute reports the situation, citing industry representatives.
Bavaria: drought and planthoppers
The sugar beet campaign in Bavaria has fallen well short of expectations. Yields range from average to far below average and differ widely between regions and individual fields. Beets suffered badly from drought and from pest and disease pressure caused by the reed glassy-winged planthopper (Schilfglasflügelzikade). Benjamin Kirchberger, head of the Bavarian raw materials department at sugar producer Südzucker AG, says yields in southern Bavaria are 25 percent below the long-term average.
Helmut Ring of the Bavarian sugar beet growers' association says symptoms of the diseases SBR and stolbur have appeared in nearly all regions, and that the extreme drought made them worse than ever before. The weakness fungus Rhizopus has also appeared in beets stressed by heat and drought. Affected beets cannot be processed, and the sugar factory makes deductions for them.
High sugar content, few beets
Christoph Ott, managing director of the Franconian sugar beet growers' association, says sugar content in the beets is around 19 percent. He explains this is not due to good sugar formation but to a "raisin effect": drought makes beets lose water and weight, so the concentration of sugar rises. According to Ott, the price trend is at least now moving upward.
Hesse: one of the worst harvests in 35 years
Harvesting in Hesse has slowed, because rotten beets in storage piles infect others. Christian Lang, managing director of the Hesse-Palatinate beet growers' association, describes it as one of the worst harvests in the region in 35 years. In many fields, farmers are harvesting about half the usual quantity.
Better situation in the north
In Lower Saxony, which grows about 90,000 hectares of sugar beet and is Germany's largest producing state, yields are slightly above average and sugar content is relatively high, according to DNZ, the umbrella organisation of northern German growers. Growing conditions were favourable overall. The planthopper problem is gradually spreading north.
