By Ed Tedtmann
The Florida sugarcane industry farms 400,000 acres in the Everglades Agricultural area (EAA) south of Lake Okeechobee. Sugarcane is harvested October through mid-April. Florida sugarcane is burned before harvest because there is so much biomass (leaf litter) that can impede harvest operation, increase transportation cost to the mill, interfere with milling machinery, and absorb sugar during the extraction process. The pre-harvest burning is cost effective, but harmful to the environment and health of the 31,000 area residents in Belle Glade, Pahokee, and South Bay.
Green harvest is the alternative to sugarcane pre-harvest burning. It is done by mechanical harvesting machines that have fans to clean the leaves and tops from the stalks before cutting the stalks, leaving the biomass on the ground. The fans can operate to clean some or all of the leaves from the stalks, leaving a modest blanket that can be left on the ground. A portion of the leaves can be transported with the cane to be stripped off at the mill for various uses. The biomass trash blanket, about 60 percent that is left on the ground, restores organic carbon, nitrogen, and other essential chemical elements to the soil, which reduces the cost of added fertilizer that can amount to between 325 and 421 pounds per acre per year. Further, the biomass blanket prevents weed growth and reduces weed control costs by 35 percent. The trash blanket reduces soil erosion, retains soil moisture, and reduces irrigation costs by 10 percent.
Biomass transported to the mill can be burned to power boilers, create bioplastics, and generate electricity. There may be short-term yield losses through delayed growth and frost damage to young plants due to reduced soil temperature caused by trash blankets. However, this can be resolved through better trash management methods. Sugarcane yield has been 25 percent higher in a system where trash was conserved, compared with areas involving pre-harvest burning.
Green Harvest will eliminate the health issues caused by sugarcane burning. This cane burning increases the number of incidents of respiratory problems, primarily asthma hospital admissions, in sugarcane farming regions. The average annual income in the affected towns is $26,000, so people relocating to a safe location is not an affordable solution, especially for the elderly. I lived in Wellington during the mid-1980s to early 1990s, about 30 miles from the sugarcane burning, and the air was thick with ash and acrid smoke. Our screened-in porch required continuous cleaning.
Green harvest will improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce herbicide use, and water runoff. It will also reduce big Sugar’s lobbying cost from $11 million per year. There is currently a lawsuit requiring 100 percent green harvest by Big Sugar, in the EAA, by some local residents. Let’s hope it comes to fruition.
More to Read: Feb. 12, 2022 opinion column in Palm Beach Post