Clean Air in Our Communities: State of Florida Monitoring Data shows Glades Have Cleaner Air than Costal Areas

Clewiston, FL – After experiencing a delay to the start of harvest due to extremely wet field conditions, U.S. Sugar has begun the 2023-2024 harvesting season, while also releasing the latest monitoring data measured by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The data once again shows the Everglades Agricultural Area and surrounding farming communities have excellent air quality, even better than on the coast.

The data, taken over a 335-day period from October 2022 to August of 2023 show Glades air is in the best of six categories listed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for 311 days – 93 percent of the time – and in the next-best the other 24 days. Additionally, a Princeton University-based study shows sugarcane crops contribute to cleaning carbon dioxide from the air.

“The Glades farming communities have excellent air quality throughout the year, whether measured during the harvest season, pre-harvest or post-harvest,” said Judy Sanchez, Senior Director of Corporate Communications at U.S. Sugar. “This has been true year after year, and it once again proves that anti-farming critics are simply wrong about the air in the Glades. “Professional-grade air quality monitors in every location also show that good, safe air quality is very consistent throughout the entire region, never falling anywhere near ‘unhealthy’ categories.”

Glades air quality meets all state and federal Clean Air Act standards for PM2.5, the amount of “fine particulates.” “Good” air has less than 12 particles per cubic meter.  The average for the Glades over the October—August time period covered in this update was 7.36 particles.  By comparison, Royal Palm Beach came in at 7.52 and Delray at 7.62.

Fine particulates in rural areas can come from car and truck exhaust, dust from dirt roads and asphalt dust, sand particles blown in from the Sahara Desert, smoke from all types of fires, fireworks, BBQs, emissions from lawn mowers and leaf blowers, soot, ash, mineral dust, pollen, mold spores, rubber tire dust, emissions from fume hoods and smokestacks, and construction dust, among others.

Excellent air quality is generally consistent throughout the region all year-round, but that was disrupted on October 3, when smoke from Canadian wildfires reached Central and South Florida. As a result, our local ”good” and safe air quality in the region moved into the “unhealthy” range. At 10:00 am in Belle Glade, the public air quality monitor showed an AQI reading of 161. “The air pollution readings in the Glades increased alarmingly as smoke from Canadian wildfires settled over our area,” Sanchez said.  “Air quality readings never came close to the ‘unhealthy’ range over the past year covered in this report before, during or after the Glades harvest season.”

On the battle against rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), the Carbon Mitigation Initiative at the High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton University reports that sugarcane has “turbocharged” efficiency to remove carbon dioxide from the air, calling sugarcane and corn “super-efficient workhorse crops.” Sugarcane and sweet corn are two of the major crops grown in the Glades farming region.

As we all live, work and raise our families together in these Glades farming communities, these numbers once again confirm what we see every day, that the air out here is “good, safe, and clean,” Sanchez said.

# # #

Oct-2023-Air-Quality-Report

The State of Our Air

Since I grew up in Clewiston and I raised my kids on U.S. Sugar farmland, it came as no surprise to me that when I read the data in our recent State of Our Air Report, showing that our farming region has some of the highest quality air in the state, and some of the best in the nation.

Working as part of U.S. Sugar wasn’t just a career goal of mine, it’s been a family tradition. A member of the Stiles family has been a part of the U.S. Sugar family since 1935. My grandfather worked for U.S. Sugar, as did my father and mother. I was raised in Clewiston, right across the street from a sugarcane field. As a kid I used to chase rabbits through the sugar cane fields.

I’ve been lucky to work at U.S. Sugar since 1982, starting out servicing tractors and other equipment used to manage the land. I was fortunate to have a mentor who taught me about growing and harvesting sugarcane. He also taught me how to manage the land.

When I married and started a family of my own, we were blessed to raise our two children in the country on one of U.S. Sugar’s farms.  It was great place to live and a great way for kids to grow up.   

Now, my two kids are grown and married. They’ve started families of their own, and I’m a grandfather.  Here at U.S. Sugar, I’m now an Area Manager overseeing 47,000 acres of sugarcane farms in Western Palm Beach County.

The land, water and air are our most precious resources. We do our best to care for the land and to protect the water resources. The miles and miles of vegetation that is sugar cane contributes significantly to the quality of air that we breathe. 

While we breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, plants do the exact opposite. Plants absorb light and carbon dioxide, and they produce pure oxygen.

That’s why it’s no surprise that the air quality in the Glades community is rated by the environmental agencies as “good,” which is the very best air quality classification. Air in our hometown is far better than that of the rest of West Palm Beach.

Average levels of PM2.5 are consistently higher in the West Palm Beach area as compared to the Glades communities. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines particles in the air as particulate matter (PM) and PM2.5 describes fine, inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s 2020 report continues to show that air quality in the Glades community is better than other areas of the state; particularly more densely populated, Northern communities.

Don’t take my word for it. Just check out the data. Take a look at our inaugural “State of Our Air.”

As U.S. Sugar begins its 90th sugar cane harvest season, I’m more proud than ever to be a part of this effort. We’re a company that’s committed to grow products that feed the world, and we combine science and technology to do that in the most efficient and most environmentally friendly way possible. Join farmers like me in helping do our part to feed America and protect farmland and the environment at the same time.  Learn more at www.ussugar.com/cleanair