Shocking news, U.S. Sugar Corp, the nation's largest producer of cane sugar, will go out of business in a $1.75 billion deal to sell its nearly 300 square miles of land to Florida for Everglades restoration. Once the deal is in place, U.S. Sugar would be allowed to farm the 187,000 acres of land for six more years before closing its doors. This area represents nearly half of the 400,000+ acres that sugarcane is grown on in Florida, the state that produces the largest amount of sugar from sugarcane. U.S. Sugar Corp employs about 1,700 people. Florida's Governor, Charlie Crist, said the deal is “as monumental as the creation of our nation's first national park, Yellowstone.” Perhaps that's a stretch, but those who have been fighting against sugar interests in an effort to protect the Everglades are surely celebrating this announcement, as part of the deal is to return the land as closely as possible to its pre-agricultural condition. Unless there are plans to grow sugarcane elsewhere in Florida, which I very much doubt, Louisiana will likely surpass Florida as the leading sugar producing state (from sugarcane) in the USA, that is, unless Louisana farmers start phasing out of sugar as well. Other crops that may not grow as well as sugarcane in Louisiana’s cane belt are starting to look increasingly lucrative at this juncture, so anything could happen between now and six years from now.Clewiston, Florida (where U.S. Sugar Corp is headquartered) may have to re-think its title, “America's Sweetest Town."
4 comments:
Wow, that'll be quite the change! It surprises me that sugarcane just isn't being used to its fullest potential, even amidst this energy crisis.
How the most logical energy crop of all has not been benefited by rising energy costs is strange indeed!
Interesting. Sounds like a boneheaded move to me. Will this affect your job any?
How much could U.S. sugar be ramped up if we got serious about using it for energy? Is there enough land we can use to make a significant dent in gas? Seems like Brazil is better situated for this, but maybe that's a bad assumption(?).
I don't believe USDA research in Louisiana will be much affected, but I could be wrong. What really amazes me is that Hawaii can't get off dead center, when it comes to ethanol from sugarcane. They are isolated. They pay more for gas. Sugarcane is a year around crop there, and yields in Hawaii are twice what they are in Brazil, even factoring in the fact that it is a 2-year crop in Hawaii.
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