Söllingen, 19 December 2019 | In view of the requirements imposed on agriculture by climate change, the growing world population and the increasing shortage of resources, the seed company Strube is shifting its focus. Under the name of VisionBlue, the company is concentrating on all projects and campaigns that have to do with resource-saving growth. The aim is to establish a form of sugar beet cultivation that is also profitable and sustainable under altered framework conditions.

Presenting the vision, executive shareholder Eric Verjux emphasised: "With VisionBlue, we aim to meet the challenges of today and those of tomorrow too. As a producer of seed, we have to be part of the solution, so that farmers can organise their cultivation in a sustainable way and coming generations can also sow and harvest. Due to this fundamental change in agriculture, we do not believe in short-term transitional solutions."

For this reason, the plant breeding company is going for a holistic approach. The priority here, on the one hand, is on digital technologies and precision farming, which contribute to an efficient and optimised management of agricultural fields. The operation of robotics will also play a leading role here. On the other hand, new projects and technologies are being deployed, both in breeding and in seed production. Plants should be able both to withstand stress situations well caused by heat or drought and to develop optimally in the field without chemical protection. With an investment volume of 30 million euros, the company will be implementing various projects in the years ahead to ensure that VisionBlue becomes reality.

"The bans on neonicotinoid coatings are just a taste of what we will be facing soon", says managing director Martin Reisige. "The signs of the times are pointing to change. Exhortations like 'just keep up the good work' are no longer accepted either politically or socially."

In its presentation of the 'Green Deal', the new EU commission has already announced that the whole agricultural sector in the EU will have to be run sustainably in the future. Strube is now facing up to these challenges.