Hilleshog is the global sugar beet brand of Syngenta. Sugar beet seed is our business, and the complete satisfaction of our customers is our aim.
This is the website of Hilleshog Sugar Beet in the UK, a source of information, news and events for Britain's sugar beet growers.

Hilleshog remains totally committed to sugar beet in the U.K. and has a great deal to offer, including this year three of the top varieties for Adjusted Tonnes on the 2009 Recommended List - TRINITA, ALOTA and OPTA. We believe that our varieties should give you more than just the good yields, good looks and good results that you have come to expect from us.

Hilleshog celebrated the centenary of its founding in 2007 and Hilleshog sugar beet seed was first supplied to UK growers in 1926. Since that time we have built a reputation as one of the foremost seed suppliers in the country. In the last 20 years we have supplied over 1.75 million units of sugar beet seed to the U.K. industry and the names of Hilleshog varieties read like a Hall of Fame for Sugar Beet.

With the broad knowledge base and expertise of Syngenta behind it, Hilleshog is uniquely placed to serve UK beet growers as never before and our aim remains the same - to provide sugar beet growers and the sugar industry with products and information of the highest quality and a service to match.

COST CONCERNS OVER GROWING SUGAR BEET

With growers questioning whether there is a profit to be made in growing beet, there has never been a more important time to determine ways to save money in the crop's production.

We would suggest that growers should look at six key factors - namely seed price, sugar content, tares, bolting, plant canopies and transport costs - not all of which form part of the adjusted tonnes calculations on the recommended list.

If growers examine these six factors, they can make a significant difference to profit margins. Hilleshog have kept seed prices to a minimum and in some cases reduced them. Tempest, our new high performer, is being heralded as a real value for money heavyweight while this year's market leaders Alota, Opta and Trinita are below the top price bracket for 2009. Yet it is these three high yielding, high sugar varieties which increase the value of a load of sugar beet by as much as 5%.

In the 2007/8 campaign, the average grower lost 5.16% to dirt tares and 8.99% (before adjustment) to crown tares. However, independent research by Armstrong Fisher has shown that the Hilleshog 'Lo-tare' root shape, common to all our varieties, can reduce dirt and crown tare by up to 40%.

With regard to bolters, they don't just look bad, they cost money. Yields are depressed, removal is expensive and harvesting is more difficult. In addition, failure to deal with them stores up problems and expense for the future. Hilleshog varieties have among the lowest susceptibility to bolting from early and normal sowings.

Another potential cost saver, which Hilleshog varieties provide, is a large canopy. Good, rapid ground cover excludes weeds - potentially reducing spray costs, and early closure of rows retains moisture to provide ideal growing conditions.

Finally - and a topic of great current concern - is haulage costs. It took more than 237,000 loads to deliver last year's crop. With escalating transport costs, growers should welcome the fact that the Hilleshog combination of high sugar and low tares can reduce the loads required to deliver a contract by up to 10%.

BEET PROFIT IS IN THE VARIETY

With nearly 40% market share of this year's national sugar beet crop, Hilleshog remains confident that it can provide growers with what they need to produce a profitable crop. The key issue of rising transport costs is countered by both higher sugar content varieties and the significant and proven benefits of the new Hilleshog root shape - delivering lower dirt and crown tares and easier and more efficient harvesting.

To demonstrate how much could be saved on transport costs by choosing a Hilleshog variety, the Hilleshog stand at Cereals 2008 had a 'ready-reckoner' that allowed growers to enter their likely production in tonnes and the distance to the factory, to calculate the reduction in lorry numbers and potential cost savings. All backed up by independent research.

Encouragingly, growers appear to be paying proper attention to varieties that make the biggest contribution to profit. Hilleshog varieties are arguably providing them with the best opportunities. In addition to high yield, high sugar and low bolting susceptibility, the Hilleshog low tare root shape which is common to all our varieties, has been proven to help growers to get more adjusted tonnes on each and every load. With the current issues of transport costs and efficiency, this is a very significant benefit and our transport cost calculator proved this point.

On the 2009 Recommended List - Trinita, Alota and Opta all show very high yields (103.9 adjusted tonnes), high sugar contents (all over 18%) and are among the least susceptible to bolting from either early and normal sowings (with quoted figures of less than 0.5% bolters/thousand plants for early sowing and 0% for normal sowing).

Tempest - the newly Recommended sugar beet variety from Hilleshog - is well adapted to being in the ground for up to 12 months. With the lowest bolting figures of any variety on the 2009 NIAB Recommended List, this new high-yielding heavyweight could be sown on March 1st in one year and harvested as late as the following March 1st. Tempest is extremely vigorous and has the largest tops of any conventional variety, thus providing good early ground cover at the beginning of the season and a greater degree of frost protection at the end of the season.

SELECTING VARIETIES FOR 2009

'Maximise yield at every stage' was the advice from the experts at Beet 08 in February, as one sugar beet Campaign came to a close and we prepared for the next. Certainly, we are all under pressure to look for every opportunity for increasing yield and reducing costs.

Despite the unhappy and inescapable fact that 2007 was the first time that UK quota was not achieved since 1983, the sugar beet crop is at an exciting stage of its development. Its fortunes, which have been on the downswing of a cycle for a number of years could well be about to change for the better.

'Growing yields
Yields continue to develop at a rate unparalleled by any other crop (see overleaf): there has been a 90% increase in the mean yields of varieties in NIAB Recommended List Trials between 1970 and 2006. More disease resistances are being built into varieties and the dramatic improvements that could come from GM could at last be on the realisable horizon. Sugar beet seed and the performance derived from it have never been better. We have faith in the future of the crop and confidence that it can once again be an important and profitable part of many farm enterprises. Decisions One of the first decisions for the 2009 sugar beet crop, having decided to grow it of course, will be the selection of varieties from the NIAB Recommended List, with its ever-changing combination of established favourites and promising newcomers. There are 23 varieties to choose from this year and it is worth considering the differences between varieties at all stages of the crop.

Please click on the Varieties tag to see the details of the varieties.

Celebrating 100 years of breeding.

In 1907, a group of Swedish sugar beet factories set up a breeding organisation to provide varieties adapted to their local conditions. The new company took its name - HILLESHÖG - from the village that became their headquarters. In 100 years of continuous development, the company has grown to be one of the world leaders in sugar beet breeding and seed production. Over the years, Hilleshog has been at the forefront of many of the key developments in the crop

The centenary is commemorated in a specially produced book entitled 'The first 100 years'. It traces the history of Hilleshog across the world and looks forward to new challenges in the future of sugar beet breeding.

A limited number of copies of the book are available to those that would like them. Please contact us by post or email if you would like us to send you a copy.