How Brazil Stopped the Burn

As we settle into post-Labor Day routines—family, school, work, elections, and more—we ask that you keep our campaign in mind. Despite a crowded landscape, we are as committed to sugar industry reform as ever.

And we still have an opportunity to make change. The farm bill is frozen in place, with little prospect for movement before the end of the year. That gives us a window to define sugarcane burning as both an economic problem and a social justice travesty. 

Recent Campaign Developments

Florida A&M professor Michée Lachaud's study, released this summer, has established a statistically significant link between sugarcane burning and increased asthma rates among low-income, predominantly Black Florida communities. Dr. Lachaud's work has changed the reform landscape, triggering an announcement from U.S. Sugar that it would study the impact of sugarcane burning. 

We're not holding our breath that Big Sugar will act against its own interest—their cynicism is bottomless—but we do believe they have blinked in the face of pressure from our campaign. And that's a big deal. 

New Short Film: How Brazil Stopped the Burn

We highly recommend a new short film from Business Insider on Brazil's shift to a green harvest and why the outdated practice of cane burning persists in the United States. The gist is that the American industry is fully equipped to stop burning, but the status quo is cheaper, faster, easier. Simply put, there are no regulations to incentivize or require green harvesting here in the U.S. Our campaign exists to change that dynamic.