U.S. Sugarcane Industry About Half of the Sugar Produced in the United States Is Obtained from Sugarcane

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U.S. Sugarcane Industry About half of the sugar produced in the United States is obtained from sugarcane. The process of producing food-grade sugar from cane is complex. Kenneth Gravois Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Sugar Research Station weeteners come in many forms but have Moyne d’Iberville, founder of Louisiana. Sone purpose, to arouse the palate. Some The popularity of sugarcane as a source of the common sweeteners used in the for sucrose soon flourished worldwide. Sug- United States are sucrose from sugarcane arcane is grown in many countries ranging and sugar beet, high-fructose corn syrup, from Angola and Argentina to Zambia and dextrose, sorghum syrup, maple syrup, Zimbabwe. Although the crop is grown pri- honey and an array of artificial sweeteners. marily in tropical regions, varieties of sugar- The focus here will be on sugar (sucrose) cane have been bred for adaptation into sub- tropical and even a few temperate growing Kenneth Gravois, PhD, production from sugarcane. is a sugarcane special- Sugarcane is a thick-stemmed grass (Fig- regions. The top five sugarcane-producing ist within the Louisiana ure 1) with an ability to accumulate large countries in the world are Brazil, India, State University AgCen- quantities of sucrose. Sugar is one of the most China, Thailand and Mexico (Figure 2). In ter. In addition, he is a the last several years production in India has professor of sugarcane widely traded food commodities in the world. varied. Recent droughts in India have breeding and genetics. From the spice trade routes to the high seas His father and three of early exploration, the quest for sweeten- brothers operate a ers has been relentless. Early explorers were Sugarcane 2,600-acre sugarcane farm. enamored with this tropical source of sugar when first encountered on the Pacific Islands. Christopher Columbus first brought sugarcane to the New World on his second voyage. From the West Indies, travelers began to fur- ther spread sugarcane throughout the Caribbean and then to Central and South America. Sugarcane eventually found its way to south Louisiana in 1699 when brought in by the early French explorer Pierre Le Figure 1 ➤ 42 May 2012 • The Manufacturing Confectioner.

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Sugarcane Burning
LouisianaLouisianaSUGARCANE BURNING Why is the sugarcane industry important to Louisiana? Of the domestic sugar industries, Louisiana has the oldest and most historic. Sugarcane arrived in Louisiana with the Jesuit priests in 1751 and, in 1795, Etienne deBore granulated sugar on a commercial scale at Audubon Park in New Orleans. The Louisi- ana sugarcane industry is in its third century of existence, having celebrated its 200th year of continuous sugar production in 1995. Sugarcane is produced on more than 450,000 acres of land in 25 of the 64 Louisiana parishes. In 1999, total production of 15,982,000 tons of sugarcane yielded 1,675,000 tons of sugar. Growers averaged 37 tons of sugarcane and 7,800 pounds of sugar per acre, both new state records. The value of this sugar to farmers, factories and landlords exceeded $740 million, al- though the direct economic value generated from the What are the benefits of burning crop exceeded $2 billion. Sugarcane ranks first in the sugarcane? state among plant commodities, which also include rice, soybeans, corn and cotton. Louisiana produces The benefits of burning sugarcane are: about 16 percent of the total sugar grown in the United States (includes both sugar from sugar beet and sugar- An overall lower cost of production that benefits cane). Approximately 32,000 people are employed in farmers and consumers the production of sugar in Louisiana on 690 farms and Allows more efficient harvesting of sugarcane in 18 factories. in the field Reduces the number of hauling units on the Why do farmers burn sugarcane in the highways delivering sugarcane to the factory first place? for processing, thus reducing wear and tear on public roads Decreases the volume of material to be processed Farmers burn sugarcane to reduce the amount of leafy by the factories extraneous material, including stalk tops, delivered Shortens the harvest season by as much as 10 with the cane to the factories for processing.
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