Beetroot is an increasingly popular vegetable among both producers and consumers

Beetroot consumption is experiencing a renaissance in our country, thanks to the gastronomic revolution sweeping the country in recent years, beetroot has become fashionable again. In addition to restaurants, more and more housewives are getting acquainted with the versatile ingredient again. A significant part of the beetroot available in stores comes from domestic production, with only a small amount of imports appearing on the market at the end of the season.

The constantly increasing demand is no coincidence, as beetroot is a true superfood: it fits well into a healthy and balanced diet, and is also available all year round. Beetroot is a vegetable that can be used in an extremely wide variety of ways. It can be used to make vegetable dishes, snacks, salads, soups, pickled, and desserts. Many people drink the vegetable juice, and it is a popular ingredient in smoothies.

According to the National Chamber of Agriculture and the Hungarian Vegetable and Fruit Interprofessional Organization (FruitVeB), we produce beetroot on about 250–350 hectares in Hungary, in quantities of 10–20 thousand tons. The beetroot cultivation area in our country has been continuously expanding over the past five years, increasing by about 100 hectares. The reason for the expansion of the cultivation area may be that it can be easily integrated into the cropping structure, mainly due to the use of machinery, production is relatively predictable, and, incidentally, subsidies also act as an incentive.

Thanks to more intensive production and the modernization of production technology, not only the area but also the average yield is constantly increasing. Production is also quite centralized, with a few companies engaged in beetroot cultivation in the country, serving as additional production facilities alongside onions, potatoes, and carrots for supply to supermarket chains.