IIRB Congress 2026
The 80th International Institute of Sugar Beet Research (IIRB) Congress was held at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, from 6–9 July 2026, bringing together over 300 researchers, breeders and industry representatives to discuss the future of sugar beet production in a rapidly changing environment.
Hosted by BBRO and led by Prof Mark Stevens as IIRB President the congress addressed the theme of “Advancing Sugar Beet in a Dynamic Environment.”
The programme focused on helping the sugar beet sector respond to major challenges including:
- Climate change, drought and greenhouse gas emissions
- Sustainable crop nutrition and soil health
- Robotics, artificial intelligence and digital agriculture
- Weed resistance and future weed control strategies
- Virus yellows management
- Cercospora leaf spot and rhizomania resistance
- Emerging pests and diseases, particularly SBR/RTD and planthopper vectors
Both Dr Georgina Barratt and Dr Alistair Wright took to the stage to present to peers and colleagues.
We were pleased to see posters from two of our PhD students Myo Wai (Evaluating drought tolerance in sugar beet (Beet vulgaris): a multimodal phenotyping and physiological analysis) and Abhishek Tanwer (The impact of cover crop mixes on soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics in sugar beet). We were extremely proud of Abhishek who won the coveted 'Best Poster' award. Dr Georgina Barratt also received an award for her excellent contributions.
For further information about the IIRB Congress, please listen out for the July and August BeetCasts, forthcoming articles and press releases.
IIRB Posters
Of the 110 posters at the Congress, BBRO presented nine based on our most recent research and collaborations. These are available to view here.
IIRB Paper reviews
The BBRO in-house specialists have reviewed and summarised the platform presentations. These are available to view here.
BBRO is a not for profit company
We are set up jointly by British Sugar plc and NFU Sugar
