From stories about lower-than-expected sugar harvests in Cuba to articles on wrangling over sugar at free trade talks, Jane Bussey -- The Herald's international business reporter -- has often brought readers news of this sweet commodity.

But she had never seen the process of taking sugar from soil to sack or witnessed a sugar cane harvest.

She remedied that earlier this month when she went to Clewiston -- a small community that bills itself as ''America's Sweetest Town.'' In the fields surrounding Clewiston the sugar harvest is in full swing.

Clewiston, a two-hour drive north of Miami on the southern edge of Lake Okeechobee, is the home of United States Sugar Corp. -- the largest U.S. sugar cane producer.

This week's cover story, ''Saving U.S. Sugar'' (page 24), is the result of Bussey's trip. She not only watched the harvest, which is now highly mechanized, but also talked with U.S. Sugar executives who said the company is determined to survive in the face of tough global competition and other adverse trends.

One front burner issue for U.S. Sugar Corp. and other American sugar growers and producers is the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which would allow increased sugar imports from the Dominican Republic and the five Central American countries that are part of the pact.

CAFTA still must win U.S. Congressional approval, and Big Sugar is lobbying hard against its passage.

Mark Smith, who is executive vice president of the Brazil-U.S. Business Council in Washington, said Friday that free trade promoters in the capital are determined to fight the sugar industry.

''We are fighting tooth and nail. . . and we are going to beat them,'' Smith said during a local conference. ``We are going to win this fight on CAFTA.''

He also insisted that the industry had painted a much too dark picture of how the CAFTA agreement would affect it.

''There's not a situation where free trade will be the death of this industry,'' he said.

But sugar executives insist it could put many producers out of business. As the cane is cut, the battle will continue.