Search

The article focuses on the effort of U.S. sugar cane and sugar beet growers to have their crop converted to ethanol for automobile fuel. Farmers are worried that expanded sugar imports from Mexico which begin January 1, 2008 will cause a sharp fall in prices. A provision of the 2007 farm bill being considered by the U.S. Congress would have the Department of Agriculture buy surplus sugar to sell to ethanol producers. The producers do not support the idea.

The article discusses sugar cane, a staple for holiday treats such as fruitcake and gingerbread. In the United States, sugar is grown in Louisiana, Texas, Florida, and Hawaii. The Steen's syrup mill in Abbeville, Louisiana, is discussed in the article. The difference between raw and refined sugar, Demerara, cane syrup, and muscovado sugars are also presented.

Reports that U.S. Republican Congressional leaders are struggling to line up enough votes to pass the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which would cut trade barriers with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Suggestion that the inability to placate sugar producers raises doubts about President George W. Bush's ability to push the trade deal through Congress; Issue of weak support for trade agreements; Strength of the sugar lobby; Views of legislators; Divisions within the Senate Finance Committee; Background on the agreement; Objections of sugar industry executives and their supporters in Congress.

U.S. and Mexican sugar growers who have been trying to resolve a sweetener conflict between the two countries said Thursday that growers in both countries oppose the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) among the United States, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. The industry task force also included the National Corn Growers Association and the Corn Refiners Association, but they declined to sign the anti-CAFTA news release, a corn industry source said.

Florida's Fanjul family of sugar growers does not want a proposed free trade agreement between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic to interfere with the U.S. sugar program, even though the family has Dominican operations that could benefit from the deal. Fanjuls are among the biggest beneficiaries of the sugar program, which uses tariffs and loans to prop up sugar prices without government expenditures. The program also includes an elaborate importation system that assures poor countries higher prices than they would get on the world market.

The article comments on the U.S. Congress legislative bill related to sugar production and price control there. To benefit a group of sugar producers, the bill will affect taxpayers along with consumers and farmers, comments the article. The bill guarantees the government to buy from American farmers an amount of sugar equivalent to 85% of domestic consumption. This will benefit only big sugar producers, comments the article.

The article reports on the disagreement between Senator Norm Coleman and the Bush Administration over House farm bill in the U.S. The House bill provision would direct Department of Agriculture to purchase excess sugar from sugar growers and sell it to ethanol plants. Agriculture Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Mark Keenum asserts that the Bush administration objects to the sugar-to-ethanol provision because of its mandate to sell excess sugar only to ethanol plants.

Reports on efforts of Mexico and the U.S. to end a trade dispute. How a Mexican tax on soft drinks made with high-fructose corn syrup has halted corn syrup imports from the U.S. and helped restore Mexico's sugar industry; Determination of both countries, even under the North American Free Trade Agreement, to continue protecting their industries; Highlights of a possible deal; Views of industry analysts; History of the dispute; How, in Mexico, sugar's political power grows out of its social importance; Outlook.

Comments on sugar cane growers' efforts to shed their image as an industry that fears publicity. That image has undermined its clout in Washington and Florida and made it hard to attract public sympathy on issues like water management that threaten the growers' future.

Reports on the efforts of sugar farmers in Florida to cut down on the amount of phosphorous which runs off of sugar plantations into surrounding ecosystems. New water management practices; Methods of phosphorous reduction; The success farmers have met with in their reductions; Concerns that farmers are bearing too much of the responsibility for the high phosphorous content in the fragile Everglades ecosystem.