Sugar beet cultivation is chemical-intensive. In 2017, the average number of pesticide treatments received by sugar beet crops in France was between five and six — which is more than most other crops (Agreste, 2019). Sugar beets need to be protected from weeds competing for resources and diseases transmitted by aphids; for example, the beet yellows virus. For this purpose, the sugar beet sector has had to rely extensively on neonicotinoid insecticides, which are often used in seed coating to prevent virus transmission. Since the approval of neonicotinoids such as thiamethoxam and imidacloprid for the EU market was withdrawn between 2018 and 2019, over 60% of the emergency authorisations EU Member States have granted for their use have concerned sugar beet crops. In France, all four emergency authorisations granted for neonicotinoids since 2019 were for this type of crop.

The definitive withdrawal of neonicotinoid insecticides in the EU — recently reinforced by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which effectively banned neonicotinoid-coated seeds from the market (CJEU, 2023) — means that sugar beet farmers must find alternative solutions for plant protection (Verheggen et al., 2022). Among these alternatives, avoiding the use of synthetic insecticides altogether and shifting to organic sugar beet production presents many obstacles — not only at the farm level but also on the aggregation and processing side. Thus, before 2018, no micro sugar refineries were specialised in sugar production from organic sugar beets, at least in France.