A Future for Florida Sugar

By: Tylyn Tarter

tylyntarter@ufl.edu, 863-254-7142

Florida’s ground holds rich, wet soil called muck, also known as black gold. This soil

provides the richest location for farming crops important to Florida’s agriculture production.

Surrounding the edges of Lake Okeechobee, in the heart of Florida, more than 50% of sugarcane

production in the United States begins its lifecycle.

Most commercially-grown sugar cane begins its journey in the areas of South Florida in

counties such as Hendry, Palm Beach, and Glades. With a rising population, and rising demands

for white sugar, the sugarcane industry in South Florida proves to be one that steadily expands in

size and production.

The future of Florida’s sugarcane industry is one that is determined by worldly

consumption and overall demand. With new means of technology being created, producers are

able to produce higher sugar yields- resulting in more refined sugar and byproducts being

produced using less farmland.

Florida competes with Louisiana and Texas in sugarcane production within the United

States in terms of top numbers during sugar production. Florida’s muck soils provide a

foundation for sugarcane production overall.

“Florida, being the largest producer of sugar, outproduced the other sugarcane growing

states because of our warm winters, allowing us to produce more sugarcane per acre than the

other states,” said United States Sugar Corporation’s Sugarcane Agronomist, Leslie (Les)

Baucum.

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 The United States Sugar Corporation grows, harvests, and produces many tons of sugar

each year during the months of September through May.

“Our harvest season lasts eight months and each year we haul sugarcane from 230,000

acres of land to the plant at the United States Sugar Corporation to process the sugarcane into

about 800,000 tons of refined sugar,” said South Central Florida Express Railroad Dispatcher,

Daniel Tarter.

Sugarcane is Florida’s most economically valued field crop ranking higher than the

combined value of Florida grown corn, tobacco, soybean, and peanut crops.

Farmers work with technological advances to keep their farms and farming practices up

to date.

“Many of today’s technological advances have found their way to agriculture, helping to

improve efficiencies and increase yields, making today’s farms more sustainable then farm

operations of a generation ago,” Baucum said.

Farmers are taking part in implementing farming practices that reduce soil subsidence

and nutrient runoff. Such practices are increasing the longevity and sustainability of the

sugarcane industry in South Florida.

The sugarcane industry is an industry that is currently thriving and continues to thrive in

production and management.

This is beneficial for the future because consumers and producers are able to determine

how successful future sugarcane harvesting seasons will be.

A challenge the sugarcane industry faces is the subsidence of muck soils. Much of the

Glades farming area in South Florida has been drained for farming purposes.

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 The subsidence of muck soils is caused by the breakdown of organic matter by

microorganisms. Subsidence is used to describe what is happening to soils because it describes

how the natural balance is disrupted and disappearing.

Draining results in a disruption of the natural balance of nutrients making muck soils

disappear.

“In order to show the rate of subsidence, the University of Florida encourages the

adoption of farming practices such as flooding fallow fields and planting cover crops. By

flooding fallow fields between crops, you are creating an anaerobic environment which is not

suitable for the microbes that breakdown the organic matter in muck soils,” said University of

Florida IFAS Agronomic Extension Agent, Matthew VanWeelden.

Although this proves the sugarcane industry faces some problems, there are solutions and

recommendations put into place to create a more sustainable farming environment.

Sugarcane farming in South Florida provides citizens with many possible job

opportunities. Such jobs range from farming and harvesting to mechanics and engineering.

There are many different opportunities available to people within the sugarcane industry

in relation to career choices and educational advancements.

With the world population growing at a fast rate, the demand for raw and processed sugar

products and byproducts increases with it. More land will be needed for farming to meet such

high demands. As a result of this, more people will be needed to fill job positions and produce

enough sugar accordingly.

“The future of sugarcane farming in South Florida will continue to grow but will face

tough challenges from environmentalists and foreign sugar flooding the market at cheaper

prices,” Tarter said.

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 United States sugar farming leads production ahead of China by over 40 percent more

production per year. Foreign imports have the potential to flood U.S. markets with cheaper

prices. This, however, is unlikely due to the large amount of raw and refined sugar produced

within the United States at fast rates each year.

The future for Florida’s sugarcane industry proves to have its pros and cons in terms of

production. Overall, we see an upward trend for the production of refined sugar and other

products. It is an industry that we can only expect to see keep growing in future days to come.

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APPENDIX: Target Publication and Sources

My target publication for this story is the Farm Journal Magazine.

Matthew VanWeelden

University of Florida IFAS Agronomic Extension Agent for Palm Beach County

mvanweel1@ufl.edu

561-993-1579

Daniel Tarter

South Central Florida Express Railroad Dispatcher

dtarter@ussugar.com

863-228-2883

Leslie Baucum

Sugarcane Agronomist for the United States Sugar Corporation

Lbaucum@ussugar.com

863-902-2108