CLEWISTON — Sugar cane harvesting and milling operations began for the 70th season Tuesday at United States Sugar Corp.

With a projected harvest of 193,695.9 acres of cane, the 166-day season is expected to run until late March or early April. Harvest operations will continue on the 24-hour, seven-day schedule that was instituted last season. 

U.S. Sugar’s raw sugar mills at Clewiston and Bryant are expected to process 6,951,232 million tons of cane, producing about 816,333 tons of sugar this year. Last season’s crop produced 829,387 tons of sugar. 

Prices are expected to improve because domestic sugar production is expected to be lower, said Jim Terrill, executive vice president for the sugar division. 

Based in Clewiston, U.S. Sugar is the nation’s largest producer of sugarcane and cane sugar.