In response to a class-action lawsuit filed by Florida residents whose health and well-being have been harmed by the Florida sugar industry’s archaic practice of burning sugarcane fields, United States Sugar Corporation has launched a misleading public relations campaign falsely claiming that burning sugarcane has no harmful effects on air quality in South Florida – despite clear evidence of what residents call toxic “black snow” ash and pollution.
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Below, Hagens Berman and Berman Law Group, which represent Florida residents, pierce through Big Sugar’s lies by exposing the truth about sugarcane burning and its far healthier, more sustainable alternative, green harvesting – which will preserve jobs and lengthen field life in America’s top sugar-producing region:
MYTH: The air quality and pollution produced by pre-harvest sugarcane burning is at a level which is not harmful to residents’ health or property.
REALITY:
Contrary to U.S. Sugar’s claims, plaintiffs allege in their lawsuit that the pollution produced by pre-harvest sugarcane burning causes breathing problems and severe eye irritation and chronic headaches – and some children even develop asthma as a result of smoke exposure. According to the plaintiffs’ complaint, “Medical research has linked exposure to pre-harvest sugarcane burning to a range of health issues, including respiratory diseases like asthma, cancer, kidney disease, and poor infant health outcomes” – with children and seniors among the most vulnerable. The negative effects of burning have been extensively documented in Brazil, the world’s largest sugarcane producer, where pre-harvest burning is now being phased out in favor of green harvesting. Under Brazilian law, all sugarcane burning must end by 2031 in Sao Paulo state, where most of Brazil’s sugarcane is grown – and where 97% of all sugarcane grown is already green-harvested.
Plaintiffs and residents also complain of having to wash their homes, decks, automobiles and other surfaces at a higher rate as a result of damage and discoloration from burning. One plaintiff even says she’s unable to use her barbecue during the six-month-long burn season because of the amount of ash that lands on her grill. It is not uncommon for many Glades residents to have to continually power wash during burn season, and to have to repaint homes every few years.
Big Sugar distorts the science. In its October 2020 “State of Our Air Report,” U.S. Sugar states that “…the Glades communities’ air is good,” and congratulates itself on a “safe and successful harvest.” But a close look at the report reveals that U.S. Sugar’s claims are based on readings from just one air quality monitor – the only such monitor in the 675-square-mile area covered by the lawsuit. It is also a matter of public record that since 2013, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has designated the monitor as “nonregulatory” because it fails tests necessary to meet federal standards. Records also reveal that the monitor is often offline for days or even weeks at a time. Furthermore, the monitor is only able to measure one of the dozens of pollutants emitted by sugarcane burning.
In court filings, residents’ attorneys argue that these limitations call U.S. Sugar’s claims into doubt. “Defendants base their claim that air quality standards are met in the whole of the putative class area on data from a single air quality monitor, for a single pollutant type (PM2.5), in a remote Belle Glade parking lot,” an August 26, 2020 court filing states. “Even assuming this data is accurate, it is of vanishingly little utility in assessing the impact of Defendants’ burning over the whole of the Glades, as it provides information about a single data point in an otherwise vast class area.”
MYTH: Eliminating the practice of pre-harvest burning will decimate South Florida’s sugarcane industry.
REALITY:
About 25% of all sugar produced in the United States comes from the area south of Lake Okeechobee, which plays host to the largest concentration of sugarcane fields in the country. The sugar industry is a big part of the community and will continue to be for a long time – especially if it halts its practice of pre-harvest burning.
Should the industry shift to green (or mechanical) harvesting, the future of sugarcane farming in the region will likely be brighter: Not only will green harvesting continue to sustain jobs, but it will make people healthier.
One of the world’s foremost experts on sugarcane harvesting, Dr. Andrew Wood, has written: “Agriculture as currently practiced in the Everglades Agricultural Area has a limited future due to the continued oxidation of the peaty soils and their destruction by burning. Extensive land subsidence has already occurred on the muck soils and this is likely to continue rapidly while crops like sugarcane are burnt and little organic matter is returned to the soil. A system of sugarcane production where the soil is always covered with a thick ‘trash’ blanket (industry terminology for mulch and other organic debris produced in green harvesting) would be much more sustainable.”
In other words: Green harvesting will revitalize damaged soil by returning vital nutrients and soil depth, ensuring that sugarcane farming has a future in Florida.
MYTH: Shifting from pre-harvest burning to green harvesting will be too expensive and cost the region jobs.
REALITY:
Recent research conducted in Belle Glade, Florida, shows that “green harvested” fields produce just as much sugar as do fields that have been burned. And an expert on sugarcane harvesting, Dr. Andrew Wood, has studied Florida’s sugarcane industry and found that green harvesting would actually boost the industry’s profit margins and sustain jobs.
According to Dr. Wood, green harvesting also provides a wide range of financial and environmental benefits, including but not limited to:
- reduced weed growth,
- lower herbicide costs,
- reduced fuel use for cultivation,
- increased soil fertility,
- reduced soil loss by erosion,
- improved soil structure,
- reduced air pollution,
- fewer work stoppages for wet weather,
- reduced carbon dioxide emissions,
- fresher cane with higher sugar content, and
- reduced rate of cane deterioration.
The “trash” (i.e., organic matter) generated by green harvesting can also be used to produce plant-based paper or plastic products, an eco-friendly alternative to relying on trees and other virgin materials.
MYTH: Florida’s sugar industry is incapable of adopting green-harvesting practices.
REALITY:
Actually, Big Sugar already uses green-harvesting methods in some fields. For example, sugarcane fields bordering the Walmart in Clewiston, Florida, are harvested green to prevent smoke from disturbing customers. Plaintiffs argue that all Glades residents are entitled to the same courtesy.
Around the world – in Brazil, Australia, Thailand, Zimbabwe, and even Louisiana (America’s second-largest sugar producer, after Florida) – sugar manufacturers have either abandoned the outdated practice of pre-harvest burning in favor of green harvesting or are in the process of doing so. There is no reason to think that Florida’s producers cannot follow suit.
MYTH: Shifting from pre-harvest burning to green harvesting will have little impact on environmental quality and residents’ health.
REALITY:
A recent Brazilian study found that the abandonment of pre-harvest burning in favor of green harvesting practices in and near Sao Paulo led to a significant reduction in hospital visits among affected residents, adding that the shift “contributed to the improvement of the population’s respiratory health.”
Furthermore, sugarcane ethanol has become a popular and cleaner substitute for gasoline in much of Brazil, adding an extra environmental benefit.
