HydroBeet: An Innovative Water Management System for Sugar Beet Cultivation

When water becomes the limiting factor

Dry periods and soil moisture droughts are among the major challenges facing agriculture. In sugar beet cultivation, too, longer phases of insufficient water supply can lead to significant fluctuations in yield.

This is especially evident on light and sandy soils, whose natural water storage capacity is limited. At the same time, additional irrigation water increasingly competes with other uses such as drinking water supply. But regions without irrigation are also affected by increasingly frequent dry periods.

HydroBeet therefore does not focus on irrigation alone. The project investigates how water can be better stored in the soil, used more efficiently and applied in a more targeted way.

HydroBeet: More than a single irrigation measure

HydroBeet’s approach is deliberately holistic. Instead of simply applying more water, different measures are combined and tested under practical conditions.

The key building blocks

• Keeping water in the soil: use of a lignin-based water storage granulate in different concentrations and with different application concepts.
• Measuring soil moisture: soil sensors record, among other things, plant-available soil water and soil temperature.
• Optimising cultivation methods: the water storage material is combined with agronomic measures such as adapted plant densities, slot seeding and evaporation protection.
• Using data intelligently: sensor data and growth models are intended to help estimate water demand and crop development more accurately.
• Assessing economic viability: in addition to the water balance and crop development, the yield, quality and economic viability of the different variants are also examined.

Our role: storing water where the plant needs it

AgroBiogel contributes the lignin-based water storage material to the HydroBeet project. The granulate is worked into the soil, where it can absorb water and retain it in the root zone.

The raw material is based on lignin, a structural polymer found in plants. However, the project goes well beyond the material’s water absorption as such: it investigates how different application rates and application methods actually affect the soil water, crop development, yield and quality of the sugar beet.

This is the first time the use of the water storage granulate is systematically combined with other measures for water-efficient sugar beet cultivation.

Measuring instead of guessing: what actually happens in the soil?

A special feature of the project is the continuous monitoring of the water balance. Soil probes installed in the trial variants record, among other things, plant-available soil water and soil temperature.

This means that whether a measure has worked can be judged not only by the yield at the end of the season. The measurement data are intended to show how the different variants actually affect the soil water balance during dry periods.

This information can in turn feed into digital models, so that in future irrigation can be better matched to actual demand in terms of timing and water volume.

From field trial to a practical system

HydroBeet brings together farming practice, field research, the sugar industry, technology companies and innovative inputs. The different approaches are not considered in isolation, but combined under real growing conditions.

After harvest, quality parameters of the sugar beet are analysed alongside the yield. On this basis, the project will assess which combinations make sense both agronomically and economically.

The long-term goal is a practical cultivation system that helps sugar beet farms operate more resiliently with less available water and use existing resources more efficiently.

HydroBeet at a glance

HydroBeet in practice: sugar beet sowing 2026

The following video (in German) gives an insight into the practical implementation of the HydroBeet project during sugar beet sowing in 2026.

Video: EIP project HydroBeet, sugar beet sowing 2026

More about the project

You can find more information on HydroBeet, the project goals and the ongoing field trials on the official project pages (in German):

HydroBeet is implemented within the framework of the European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-Agri).

Using water more efficiently instead of simply irrigating more

The challenge of increasing drought cannot be solved with a single measure. HydroBeet therefore investigates how soil water storage, adapted cultivation methods, sensor technology and digital models can work together effectively.

For us at AgroBiogel, the project is an important step towards investigating the potential of lignin-based water storage in large-scale arable farming under practical conditions, and towards developing solutions for more climate-resilient crop production together with agriculture, research and industry.