Söllingen, June 2025: Discovering leaf diseases in sugar beet, measure and predict them– all of this can be done with the app BeetControl by Strube. Equipped with artificial inteligence, the app can support sugar beet growers to correctly evaluate the infestation situation, e.g. with cercospora and rust. Depending on the specific situation and local weather forecasts, the app provides recommendations for the correct handling of cercospora infestations. The app has been equipped with new functions, redesigned and is now available free of charge.
BeetControl is a smartphone app that enables the user to precisely analyse and forecast whether a sugar beet crop is infested with leaf diseases and how the infestation will develop. BeetControl can recognise whether and how severely the sugar beet is infested with cercospora. Considering resistance characteristics and weather data, the AI generates a recommendation on whether and when to treat with fungicide. The result of this analysis helps the farmer to initiate plant protection measures at the right time. This can also reduce the number of treatments and optimise the use of pesticides.
The following new features are available for 2025:
Image recognition for beet rust
BeetControl can recognise whether beet rust is present on the leaf and classify the degree of infestation on a scale of 1 to 6.
Disease prediction without taking pictures
Farmers can capture leaves in the app for specific fields and analyse them using image recognition. In the new version, it is now possible to obtain a disease progression forecast by entering the percentage of currently infested leaves. Alternatively, the app can use previously recorded observations from nearby fields and official monitoring stations for the prediction.
Integration with the Device's Photo Gallery
BeetControl can now access photos in the gallery. This means that the user can take pictures in the field and have them analysed later by the AI from the gallery if a network connection is available. In addition, the photos taken in the app can be viewed in the image gallery, allowing users to revisit them at any time.
BeetControl is available for the iOS and Android operating systems and is internationally accessible in multiple languages. The current version of the app can diagnose cercospora and rust infestations, as well as forecast cercospora outbreaks.
Strube now offers the app as a completely free download in the App Store and Google Play Store. Further information about the app is available on our website.
