Beets are one, of not very many, important food crops that originates from European native flora. The ancestor of beets is the wild plant sea beet (Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima L.) having its natural habitat at sea shores from the Mediterranean and southern Europe.  

However, individuals of sea beet have recently been observed more frequently, also on Nordic shores, and these genotypes found in colder habitats may have genes that could be useful for development of new varieties of beets. It is also proven that Nordic material contains valuable genes resistant towards Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV). 

Cultivated and eaten through 6000 years 

There are four main groups / forms of cultivated beets; Leaf Beet, Fodder Beet, Garden Beet and Sugar Beet. Harvesting and cultivation of beets is known from Europe (Greece) from pre-Greek Mesolithic period time about 4000 years BP. Beet plants cultivated in pots were probably the first use of beets in the human diet. The first references to beet root being used as a vegetable and as a medicinal plant is known from the middle ages.  

Chard and mangold plants are known from the 15th century AD. Swollen beet roots for fodder or food (e.g. red beet) were introduced during the following centuries may be into Europe from Persia. 

Sugar beet production was introduced by the end of the 1700s. The origin of sugar beet is not fully agreed, however, one of the theories suggests that the origin is unintended crossings involving wild sea beet from the North Atlantic coast. (Mitchell McGrath et.al. 2011). 

Important for sugar 

The beet plant in different forms has been important in Nordic agriculture for centuries. The rather cold climates in the Nordic region have traditionally limited the number of vegetable species available for food production. Different forms of the beet plant have been used for feed, food and as an industrial crop. 

As an alternative to sugar cane, sugar beet has been important for sugar supplies in the temperate parts of the world, including the Nordic countries. The predominant sugar producing plant, the tropical species sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum) could not be grown in temperate countries and sugar beet turned out to be the best option for sugar production in temperate climates.  

The first investigations of sugar content in beets were carried out in Prussia in the mid-1700s. The first chemical analysis showed a sugar content of 1,3 to 1,6 % dry weight. Selection of sucrose rich genotypes started in the second half of 1700s and by the beginning of the 19th century beet genotypes containing about 5–6% sucrose were available. An impressing journey of plant breeding has been carried out during two centuries bringing the sugar content of modern varieties up to around 20% (Wikipedia 2018).  

France and Germany became the predominant sugar beet sugar producers in Europe. Actually, the British blockade on food imports to France during the Napoleon wars was an important trigger to the increased sugar beet production in France and other parts of Europe (Wikipedia 2018). 

Still Nordic sugar beet breeding 

Sugar beet production became important also in southern part of the Nordic countries; Denmark, Scania in Sweden and southern Finland. Sugar beets were to some extent cultivated in Norway during the Second World War, but later considered to be unprofitable. Commercial breeding of sugar beet cultivars has been going on in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Through reorganization and merging of companies, all Nordic sugar beet breeding is today taken care of by the Maribo Seed company in Denmark. 

Other kinds of beets are still important in the Nordic agriculture and horticulture. Fodder beets were more important some years ago, when political incentives for domestic carbo hydrate feed production were in place in some of the Nordic countries, replacing grain feed. Red beets in different shapes and forms are a popular and easy growing vegetable, both for home gardening and for the preservation industry. Chard and mangold is produced and available on the fresh markets as leafy vegetables. 

Growing on sea shores 

The wild sea beet is mainly distributed along the sea shores where plants are most prevalent on beaches in a narrow band between the high tide zone and the start of the denser coast vegetation. They also occur on cliffs and on disturbed inland sites. Sea beet is adapted to high sea salt concentrations. 

The interest for collecting wild sea beet genotypes from natural habitats started almost 100 years ago. Scientists are now considering wild sea beet in particular, as being the closest wild relative to cultivated beets, as well as other wild Beta species, as genetic resources in which to find resistance to an increasing pressure from insects, nematodes and diseases, and as a source of genes for greater productivity (Frese, L. 2011).  

Genes for virus resistance in Denmark 

Many gene banks have significant numbers of Beta v. ssp. maritima accessions in their collections, available for breeding of new and improved beet varieties. Among many studies of genes and properties of sea beets, one study of beet populations in Kalundborg Fjord on Sjælland in Denmark carried out by Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) in Germany, suggests that this population carry resistance genes towards the BNYVV virus. JKI, which is responsible for the International Data Base for Beta (IDBB), has proposed that Denmark establishes a protected genetic reserve for the in situ conservation of this unique Beta population (Frese et.al. 2012). 

In the Nordic countries wild sea beet is known from Western Sweden and Eastern Denmark. In Gothenburg and the Bohuslän county, wild sea beet has been found at about 20 locations, and it is protected in the islands of Rörö and Öckerö.  

Unstable on Norwegian shores 

In Norway wild sea beet was found for the first time in 1991, and has thereafter been found at several new locations in the south east part of the country. However, wild sea beet is not very winter hardy and has rapidly disappeared from many previous registered locations. 

During the summer 2014, the author of this piece assisted on a small expedition carried out by botanists at the University of Oslo, searching for wild sea beets on shores in the south east of Norway. Out of ten possible habitats investigated, wild sea beet plants were found at five new locations. The summer after, however, the plants had disappeared from three of these new locations. 

NordGen is today conserving about 175 accessions of Beta vulgaris, most of which are cultivars of fodder beets, sugar beets or red beets from the Nordic countries. The collection of sea beet is small and consists of 18 accessions from Denmark. 

Beet seeds in Seed Vault celebration 

When the Svalbard Global Seed Vault celebrated its ten years anniversary earlier this year, beets were, together with barley, chosen to represent Nordic agriculture in a ceremony at the beginning of the 10 year Seed Vault Summit in Longyearbyen. 

Secretary general of the Nordic Council of Ministers Dagfinn Høybråten, together with the Norwegian Minister of Agriculture and Food, Jon Georg Dale and representatives from gene banks all over the world, poured seed into a glass cylinder that were inaugurated as the foundation stone of  the Seed Vault by the Nordic Prime Ministers in 2006.  

Høybråten poured seed of three Nordic beet varieties that are conserved at NordGen; the first one ‘Rex’ , a Danish cultivar of Chard released on the marked in 1976. The other was ‘Gul Eckendorfer’ (Danish Yellow Eckendorf) which is an older variety that was cultivated commercially in Denmark during early 20th century. It was anticipated that this variety was lost; however, a seed sample was repatriated to NordGen from USDA to the Nordic gene bank in 2002. And the third being ’Gammal Svensk Sockerbete’ (‘Old Swedish sugar beet’) which is a white heirloom sugar beet from Sweden. 

References: 

Frese, L. 2011. Conservation and Access to Sugarbeet Germplasm. Society for Sugar Research & Promotion. Sugar Tech. Springer Verlag DOI 10.1007/s12355-010-0054-0. 

Frese, L. , M. Enders, M. Nachtigall, E. Gillet and H-R. Gregorius. 2012. Poster: Population differentiation in Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima measured with Delta. JKI Institute for Breeding Research on Agricultural Crops. 

Mitchell McGrath, J., L. Panella. And L. Frese. 2011. Beta. In C. Kole (ed.), Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources, Industrial Crops. DOl 10.1007/978-3-642-2 1102-7_1, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 

Wikipedia, 21.06.2018. Sugar beet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_beet