The Stop Sugar Field Burning Campaign is a movement to end pre-harvest sugarcane burning in favor of green harvesting in Florida
Sugarcane growers burn their fields in and around the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) each year from October to March and beyond to rid the plant of its outer leaves (referred to as “trash”) leaving only the sugar-containing stalk in place. This outdated harvesting practice is done to make the harvesting and processing of sugarcane quicker and easier. The large amounts of hazardous air pollutants released by cane burning each season negatively impact people’s health, quality of life, and the environment. The alternative to sugarcane burning is the more sustainable, burn free, practice of “green harvesting.” Green harvesting is practiced by some of the world’s top sugarcane growing nations like Brazil and Australia where trash is effectively utilized to produce profits instead of being burned.
Health studies have found that the most vulnerable populations to the effects of sugarcane burning are the children and elderly who live in areas closest to where sugarcane is burned. Current voluntary industry burn restrictions prevent burning only when the winds blow from the west toward the more affluent communities in eastern Palm Beach County. There are no burn restrictions in place when the winds blow from the east towards the poorer, predominantly African-American communities within the EAA. This leaves the residents of the EAA to unjustly bear the worst of the negative health and quality life impacts caused from sugarcane burning while receiving the least amount of protection.
The Stop Sugar Field Burning Campaign is a growing movement of residents within the EAA and surrounding communities working to pressure the sugar industry to become a better neighbor — to stop burning in favor of green harvesting. The campaign is spreading awareness of the green harvesting alternative as both an answer to the public health threat from burning and as a vehicle for economic opportunity as well. Green harvesting allows for the “trash” that is currently burned off the stalk to instead be used as mulch or biomass for energy production, or processed to make paper, cardboard, bio-plastics, and more.
Our growing movement consists of three regional teams of volunteer activists who are affected by sugarcane burning in (1) the Glades communities of Western Palm Beach County , (2) Glades County , and (3) Eastern Palm Beach County. They are working within their own communities to pressure the sugar industry to respect the health, welfare, and quality of life of local residents by ending pre-harvest sugar cane burning and switching to green harvesting. For more info contact: patrick.ferguson@sierraclub.org
For More information Sugar Cane burning in Palm Beach County, The Palm Beach Post wrote this great article, check out this article.