Who is "Big Sugar?"

The ads running on television and radio would have you believe "Big Sugar" is some monstrous corporate organization that has polluting the Everglades as its sole focus.

What's next? "Big Dairy," "Big Corn," "Big Strawberry" or, worse yet, "Big Tomato?" 

I have met a few big tomatoes, but that's a different story.

How many folks reading this article know a farmer?

Have you ever gone to a tomato field during the "U-Pick" season?

Did you talk to the farmer? What was your impression?

Salt of the earth and real folks like you and me, that's the farmer and that is "Big Sugar." 

Up until the late 1950s, the farms of western Palm Beach County, southeast of Lake Okeechobee, primarily were used for growing vegetables.

During the summer of 1960, a group of 16 Everglades-area vegetable farmers met for the purpose of forming a cooperative sugar milling organization.

The goal was to provide a means to harvest, process and market sugar and byproducts from the collective crop of sugar cane that would be grown by the various farming members in the area.

I have had the opportunity to visit with many sugar cane growers and tour the farms and processing facilities. One of my very good friends is a sugar cane farmer, and I can tell you, he is far from the stereotype portrayed in the ads.

I'm not going to get into the science of the Everglades restoration.

However, I would like to point out a few facts.

• Sugar cane growers have learned that finding new ways to clean water and protect the environment is good for business and good for Florida. They are committed to making sure the land on which they farm is maintained and preserved for future generations.

Families have farmed the lands of the Everglades Agricultural Area for generations. It only makes sense that they would care for a vital asset, the land. 

• Farmers have led the way in technological breakthroughs that make farming more environmentally friendly. Through the incorporation of Best Management Practices, farmers have reduced the use of chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides. The result is cleaner water and healthier soil.
     

• Sugar cane growers have introduced sophisticated, computer-controlled monitors to sample farm runoff water. The best practices program has resulted in a decrease in phosphorous of more than 50 percent. Through these and other advanced farming practices, sugar cane farming is sustainable for future generations.
     

• Sugar cane mills utilize special stack scrubbers to virtually eliminate all but trace quantities of particulate matter from the steam leaving the mill. More than 90 percent of the particulate matter is captured this way and prevented from entering the atmosphere.
    

• Each year, the Everglades Agricultural Area farmers make a net contribution of 173 billion gallons of clean water to the Everglades ecosystem, which helps replenish the lower-coast well fields and provide needed water for the natural environment.
    

• Each acre of sugar cane removes 33 tons of excess carbon dioxide from the air and returns 21 tons of fresh oxygen.

The advertisements ask residents to call Gov. Jeb Bush and ask him to live up to his promises in restoring the Everglades. Sugar cane farmers have been acting environmentally responsible for many years and continue to do so. Don't make that call unless you have the facts.

For more information on Everglades restoration, go to the Department of Environmental Protection's Web site.

In closing, "If you gripe about the farmer, don't talk with your mouth full."