The 2025 sugar beet season in Germany saw significant contrasts. While many regions achieved pleasingly high yields per hectare, growers faced both economic and plant health challenges. Benefiting from favourable weather conditions during the year, with sufficient moisture and stable vegetation growth, the harvest was good in terms of quantity and proceeded smoothly in many regions. However, the sugar content was affected by regional infestations of SBR (Syndrome 'Basses Richesses') and Stolbur, which impaired the quality of the beet in some parts of the country.
The processing campaign lasted from September 2025 to January 2026 and went smoothly for the most part. The thorough cleaning of the beet made an important contribution to the efficiency of the campaign. With the ROPA Maus, most of the soil remained in the field, where it belongs. This made transportation and processing equally easier.
Above all, it is important to harvest the beets gently, efficiently, smoothly and without compromising the quality. These requirements can be perfectly met with the powerful sugar beet harvesters from ROPA. These machines deliver high power, maximum product protection and outstanding operational reliability – crucial factors for a successful beet harvest under demanding conditions.
Some customer statements and impressions of the harvest campaign:
Two new ROPA Tiger 6S harvesters for Rheinhessen, Rhineland-Palatinate
For this campaign, the Rheinhessen GbR sugar beet harvesting association was delighted to receive two new ROPA Tiger 6S machines.
With R-Connect, they can always keep track of all their ROPA machines.The telematics module forms the basis for Service 4.0 and the digital networking of machines. The dashboard allows access to machine status and daily balance at any time, while the detailed view also shows location, road and harvesting tracks, current harvesting progress and other machine data.In this way, the Tiger 6S harvesters are connected to each other, enabling efficient and transparent fleet management.
With the acquisition of these machines, the harvesting association is expanding its fleet to a total of six Tiger 6S harvesters, thereby consistently relying on powerful, reliable and future-proof ROPA technology for an efficient sugar beet harvest.
Tiger 6S at LHT Lützen eG, Saxony-Anhalt
ROPA Tiger 6S at LHT Lützen eG, Saxony-Anhalt
With the purchase of a new ROPA Tiger 6S, the customer has expanded its existing ROPA fleet consisting of two ROPA Maus loaders as well as a Tiger 6S and a Tiger 6.
Tiger 6S at Weserbergland, Lower Saxony
New Tiger 6S at Weserbergland
During the first use of the new ROPA Tiger 6S at ZRG Weserbergland GmbH & Co. KG, the customer was clearly impressed by the new harvester.
In particular, the drivers clearly enjoyed driving the machine, emphasising its precise yet powerful performance.
Tiger 6S - ZRRG Haßgau GbR, Bavaria
Operation at ZRRG Haßgau GbR, Bavaria
The ZRRG Haßgau GbR harvesting association has acquired a Tiger 6S this year. The participants were visibly satisfied and impressed with the new machine during the handover.
The Tiger 6S shows its strengths to the full, especially on rough terrain. The powerful R-Soil Protect chassis with automatic slope compensation ensures optimum adaptation to the ground surface, high driving comfort and clean harvesting, even under challenging terrain conditions.
In addition, the R-Flow assistant system demonstrates what modern technology is capable of, especially under wet and difficult harvesting conditions. Varying ground surfaces and widely fluctuating crop density are automatically compensated for, ensuring consistent throughput and stable cleaning performance regardless of the conditions.
Loading sugar beet with the ROPA Maus 6
ROPA Maus 6 at LMG Donautal, Bavaria
The ROPA Maus 6 at LMG Donauthal already runs for the second season and has proven the added value of the investment.
The flexible and powerful cleaning system delivers consistently high quality and cleaning performance, regardless of the operating conditions.Thus, the LMG Donauthal is not only gaining in terms of performance and efficiency, but also in terms of future security. That means the farmers from the harvesting association are pretty well equipped for future challenges.
ROPA Maus 6 at Agrarservice Gerbstedt, Saxony-Anhalt
This year, Agrarservice Gerbstedt GmbH started using a new Maus 6, and the drivers have been delighted with it from the very beginning.
Already in the first hours of operation, the machine impressed with its user-friendliness, high performance and excellent cleaning results, covering an area of approx. 35 m².
Further international highlights
Tiger 6S at Philippe Glauser, Western Switzerland
A new ROPA Tiger 6S has been in operation at Philippe Glauser's farm since this year.
The patented R-Soil protect chassis demonstrates what soil protection means on hilly terrain.The interconnected hydraulics ensure even load distribution on all wheels. On the slope, the load and the gravity centre are actively shifted from the bottom of the slope to the top, which increases driving stability and protects soil. At the same time, the cleaning units are also guided horizontally even on slopes, maintaining consistently high and uniform cleaning performance.
Demonstration of ROPA Tiger 6S with RW lifting unit in Sweden
The ROPA Tiger 6S with an optionally available wheel share lifter (RW) was presented at the Borgeby Field Days in Sweden and then demonstrated to customers during a demo tour.
The RW lifter was specially designed for extreme and very challenging harvesting conditions, wherever harvesters with conventional lifters are pushed to their limits. It is particularly effective for heavily weeded crops and on clayey as well as very sticky soils, which are common in valleys.
With its well-thought-out harvesting concept, the RW harvester delivers a particularly clean beet harvest. The soil is effectively loosened from the beets instead of being pressed onto the beets. As a result, the beet is harvested cleanly, with less soil attached, ensuring optimal conditions for transport and further processing.
ROPA Tiger 6S with RR harvester and defoliator at IANSA, Chile
On the heavy Chilean soils, worldwide top yields of up to 150 tonnes per hectare are achieved using irrigation. The poorly distributed rainfall, which often falls for the most part during the harvest season, makes sugar beet cultivation almost impossible without irrigation.
The local farmers sow the sugar beet with approx. 150,000 seed units per hectare, usually with a row distance of 50 cm. The beet seeds, pesticides and now also the harvesting machines are supplied to the farmers by the IANSA factory.
The new Tiger, equipped with the ROPA rubber defoliator, is operated by the contracting company Servimak. Servimak has been using the powerful machines from Bavaria for a long time and also has a ROPA Maus.
ROPA Panther 2S with Taurus at the Lambertini family, Italy
The Lambertini family's farm and contracting business near Bologna relies entirely on ROPA technology for sugar beet harvesting.
The Lambertinis harvested sugar beet with a Panther 1 from 2017 till 2023. Before the "felines" came to Bologna from Bavaria, sugar beet was harvested using the two-phase method. The ROPA Taurus was first deployed for the 2022 campaign.
ROPA Tiger 6S XL with Taurus at Dalmose, Denmark
ROPA Taurus with Tiger 6S XL in action at Dalmose, Denmark! This synergy has now proven its worth for the second season in a row.
The Taurus, with its impressive 50 m³ bunker volume and innovative R-Balance chassis, ensures efficient and soil-friendly beet harvesting alongside the ROPA Tiger. High efficiency, perfect for large fields.
Tiger 6S XL at Dockarp Maskinstation AB, Sweden
Dockarp Maskinstation AB acquired a new ROPA Tiger 6S XL for this year's season. This model has a 9-row lifting unit instead of the standard 6-row unit. The 9-row lifting units from the RR-XL series achieve significantly higher area outputs even at reduced harvesting speed.
The system solution combines several advantages: reduced fuel consumption, lower fixed costs and improved cutting quality for a highly efficient harvest with minimal damage to the beets. To provide optimum support for wider tracks, the front axle of the Tiger 6S XL is equipped with extremely low-ground-impact Michelin IF 900/60 R38 CerexBib 2 tyres.
In addition, fewer passes and less turning significantly contribute to soil protection. This makes the Tiger 6S XL with RR-XL lifting unit a powerful and state-of-the-art solution for efficient sugar beet harvesting at the top level.
Maus 6 at Kenneth Hultkvist, Sweden
A new ROPA Maus 6 with the stone removing solution has been in operation since this year at the farms of Kenneth Hultkvist, Olssons Maskinstation and Jacobsson & Virke Maskin in Sweden. During the 2025 campaign, three new ROPA Maus loaders were delivered to Sweden, a clear sign of growing consumer trust.
Driver comfort plays a crucial role, especially in a country with cold winters and low temperatures. A powerful underfloor heating system provides pleasant warmth from below and keeps your feet warm all the time, which is a noticeable advantage during long shifts in the cold season. The heating concept is supplemented by optimised park heating for the cabin, hydraulic oil and engine. The R-Touch display offers convenient, centralised control of all air conditioning functions. The park heating on the Maus 6 can be activated or preselected remotely via the myROPA online portal and R-Connect, which is particularly practical for weather conditions in Sweden.
This means that even at freezing temperatures, the driver enjoys a warm, ready-to-use workplace.
