What is sugarcane burning?

What is sugarcane burning?

Sugar cane field burning is carried out before harvesting the cane to make the process easier and require less manual labor. It takes place during the harvest season, lasting from May to November (dry season) in the South and East, (Cannavam Rípoli, 2000) with the peak of the burning season being in August.

What does burning sugar cane smell like?

The smell is hard to describe. Sugarcane is sweet (it is where sugar comes from) and the smell is grassy, musty, sweet and smoky all at once. It lingers for hours after the fires die down. Before the cane is cut, the surrounding fields are a maze of green as high as your head.

What can be done with sugarcane waste?

Bagasse is typically used to produce heat and electricity in sugar mills (cogeneration), but can also be used for paper making, as cattle feed and for manufacturing of disposable food containers. Currently, bagasse is mainly used as a fuel in the sugarcane industry to satisfy its own energy requirements.

Why do they burn sugar cane fields in Florida?

According to US Sugar, one of the nation’s top sugar growers, sugarcane burning “improves soil conditions while reducing the occurrence of wildfires and decreasing the presence of rodents, insects, and other pests.”

Why do they burn fields?

Farmers burn their fields to remove plants that are already growing and to help the plants that are about to come up. These burns are often called “prescribed burns” because they are used to improve the health of the field.

Is there sugar cane in Florida?

Sugarcane can be grown anywhere in Florida. Most of the commercial sugarcane industry is located in South Florida around the southern tip of Lake Okeechobee. The sugarcane area is so compact that most Florida visitors never see a sugarcane field.

Why do you need to burn your sugarcane?

A prescribed burn is used in sugarcane production to reduce the trash in harvested cane.

What happens when you burn sugar cane leaves?

The burning kills microorganisms and burns the trash, both of which keep the soil rich when left in the fields. In place of burning the cane, the leaves could be removed and burned to create steam for electricity generation or be converted into fuel themselves.

Why is sugar cane burned in South Florida?

When sugar cane is burned to remove the outer leaves around the stalks before harvesting, thousands of tons of hazardous pollutants are released into the air. To most people, winter in South Florida evokes familiar postcard images of blue sky, sunny beaches and waving palms.

When is the best time to burn sugar cane?

Pre-harvest Burning. Sugar cane field burning is carried out before harvesting the cane to make the process easier and require less manual labor. It takes place during the harvest season, lasting from May to November (dry season) in the South and East, (Cannavam Rípoli, 2000) with the peak of the burning season being in August.

Why do farmers burn sugar cane?

Farmers burn sugarcane crops before harvest to remove the leaves and tops of the sugarcane plant leaving only the sugar-bearing stalk to be harvested. This unnecessary harvesting practice negatively impacts the health, quality of life, and economic opportunity of residents living in and around the EAA.

Why is sugar cane so sustainable?

The use of sugar cane as a sustainable product for clean, renewable energy and for reducing the environmental impact on plastics pushes global demand to new heights each year. Sugar cane is an ideal solution to reducing carbon emissions because it consumes more carbon than is emitted during processing. This creates at the very the least a zero-carbon impact and in many cases causes a negative carbon effect on the environment.

Why is sugar cane important?

Sugarcane being the most important harvest of the season signifies prosperity and well being. Sugarcane has many medical properties which is known to prevent cancer and strengthen the stomach, kidneys, liver and the reproductive organs.

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