Tell Big Sugar to Stop the Burn!

Florida’s sugar growers burn their fields before harvesting the cane to get rid of dried leaves, generating large plumes of smoke and putting neighboring and downwind communities at risk. The sugar growers say burning is the cheapest way for them to harvest, but they are not taking into account beneficial use of those leaves as done in Brazil, Australia, and other parts of the U.S.

Economics aside, they should not be passing along their costs of doing business to surrounding communities. The smoke and ash of sugar cane burning can cause respiratory ailments, especially among the elderly and children. Fortunately, the residents affected by open field sugar burning in Palm Beach County are coming together to demand that the sugar industry use alternative means to dispose of the remnants of its annual harvest.

We are building a movement behind other options for disposal of the trash leaves—including tilling, recycling the material into paper and cardboard, using the mulch to counteract subsidence, and burning the leaves as biomass. Together, we can put an end to open field burning, and stop the sugar growers from profiting at the expense of public health. For more information Contact Us , visit: http://stopsugarburning.org or email: patrick.ferguson@florida.sierraclub.org