6,500 farmers planted beets in Belgium for this campaign. In 2017, there were 1000 more. The beet & sugar sector is threatened at its core. Without beets, there is no sugar and a whole section of our economy (50,000 jobs) over 200 years old would pay a high price if beets were to disappear.

Solutions exist

Iscal believes in the future of the beet & sugar sector. This is why we have joined forces around a new project with the 3 other players in the Belgian sector: the CBB (Confederation of Belgian Beet Growers), the Raffinerie Tirlemontoise and the IRBAB (Royal Belgian Institute for the Improvement of Beet). This initiative is called Plan B(eet/etterave/iet).

Together, we want to be agents of change in our sector by maintaining, on the one hand, the livelihood of the men and women who work there and, on the other, by constantly improving our impact on our environment.

A first edition

This Wednesday, December 14, 2022, no less than 250 direct actors in the sector such as farmers, researchers, sugar refinery employees but also our everyday partners (suppliers, customers, politicians, etc.) who met at Gembloux. This event focused on 3 questions:

• Economic – How to reinvent the sector while guaranteeing income?
• Technical – How to protect beets while preserving the environment?
• Environmental – How to deal with climate change?

Presentations and discussions transparently detailed the state of the sector and the many opportunities for improvement available to each of us. At the end of this conference, everyone agreed on two points. First of all, we must continue to organize such moments of sharing as many times as possible because it is only by exchanging our best practices that we will progress effectively. Then, it will be necessary to further extend the scope of this project because the beet & sugar sector needs a better reputation and knowledge to continue to exist in Belgium.

Count on us to keep moving forward and keeping you informed as we move so.

By Brieuc

administrator