This requires more trips and more time in processing, which is expensive. Ultimately, the choice to burn sugarcane comes down to money: leaving leaf trash attached to the canes means hauling more material to the processing plant. But this quickly evens out and plants catch up to have the same yield by the end of the growing season. There’s also evidence that leaf trash left in fields can slow down the next season’s growth, since the black, burned soil heats up more quickly than soil covered in last season’s vegetation. Leaf trash is highly flammable, and cane farmers say leaving the fields unburned means exposing harvesters and processors at risk for accidental fires. This scenario, where a polluting industry uses an under-resourced community as a dumping ground, is a classic case of environmental racism, and it’s common in polluting industries across the food system.īut why burn sugarcane fields in the first place? The dried leaves that accumulate around the base of the canes, known as trash, can be difficult to deal with, and industry advocates cite a number of reasons to burn. As a result, the Florida Department of Agriculture banned burning cane fields when the smoke was likely to blow towards Wellington. This is a stark contrast to some of the other communities in the area, like Wellington, a wealthier white community that launched strong opposition to cane smoke decades ago. Ultimately, the people who live near the sugarcane fields - predominantly lower-income Black and Hispanic communities - don’t have the time or the resources to effectively advocate for clean air. There is a class-action lawsuit in progress on behalf of residents, though new legislation designed to protect the industry may make it more difficult for residents to get any money. For starters, many feel a sense of conflict about taking on the sugar industry, as it’s one of the main employers in the area. Residents have made attempts to challenge the burning, but it hasn’t been easy. Investigators using their own monitors found that during some time windows, the amount of fine particulate matter in the air could be up to four times higher than the average, more than enough to cause respiratory distress. So while the average amount of pollution detected over a 24-hour period might not be enough to trigger federal regulators to take action, ash and smoke may spike in short, intense episodes that are enough to set off asthma attacks and other problems. Compliance with the Clean Air Act is determined by the 24-hour average of particulate matter in the air, but because individual cane fields don’t burn very long, pollution from the burning fields happens in quick episodes. And it might not matter if the monitor was working correctly anyway. Technically, this is correct, but only because of a measurement loophole.Īn investigation by ProPublica and The Palm Beach Post earlier this year found that there was only one air quality monitor in the area around the sugarcane fields, and it’s been broken for eight years. The sugarcane industry insists it complies with Clean Air Act standards and that federal monitoring says the Glades have higher air quality than average. Problems With Monitoring Sugarcane Burning Pollution Researchers have also found that sugarcane burning is responsible for significant quantities of cancer-causing pollutants, like formaldehyde, in the air and that residents in the Glades breathe in more of these chemicals than the rest of the state.ĭespite complaints from locals and years of their own evidence, however, the local health departments have largely ignored the burning at the behest of sugar industry representatives. Older residents report chronic breathing trouble and chest pain, and there’s mounting evidence that exposure to burning sugarcane fields can cause other long-term health problems. Local health care providers are also well aware of the effects of the “black snow” and see a 35 percent uptick in respiratory-related hospital visits when cane is burning. On burning days in the fall and winter, the air fills with ash the residents refer to as “black snow.”įor communities in the Glades, cane season means an increase in asthma attacks, sinus issues and other breathing problems. But despite regulations, residents around cane fields complain that smoke often impacts sensitive areas like schools and hospitals. Producers there say continuing the traditional practice is necessary to prevent harvesting accidents and keep costs down.īurning requires a permit, and at least in theory, farmers are not allowed to burn on days when the smoke will drift in certain directions. The practice of burning sugarcane fields has been largely discontinued throughout the world because of concerns about air pollution, but farmers still do it in Florida’s main sugar-producing region known as the Glades. The Problems With Burning Sugarcane Fields
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