Where do we source our sugar cane?
Wholesome Sweeteners sources high quality sugar from partner mills and farmer co-operatives around the world. Much of our Organic Sugar comes from South America, particularly Paraguay and Brazil.
In Paraguay, we have been proud to work with our partner Mill Azucarera Paraguaya’s for the last 11 years. The mission is to provide an excellent product, in an ethical manner, while keeping the environmental impact to a minimum.
•The Mill produces 20% of the sugar cane required and the rest is purchased from co-operatives of family farmers. As demand for Organic Sugar has continues to increase more and more local farmers are receiving training and help from AZPA to convert to organic farming practices.
•The growers all receive the same remuneration per tonne of sugar cane and are guarantee payment within 15 days. The majority of the farms in Paraguay are smaller scale sugar farms generally ranging from 0.5 - 30 hectares.
•Schools are provided to all employees, all agricultural workers and their families. The curriculum includes English lessons and computer studies held in the recently added computer suite. The children are strongly encouraged to participate in the Junior Achievement Programs.
•Healthcare including doctors and medication, are provided free for all employees and farmers.
•Housing. Mill workers and employees with over five years of service are awarded a plot of land and an interest-free loan to build upon it. Water, Electricity and Sewage are all provided.
•The Paraguayan Farmer Co-Operatives have used the additional income received from growing an organic crop to purchase tractors, which are shared by the community, to establish a broadband radio station so they can communicate, improve schools and health care and develop their land and crops.
•Wholesome Sweeteners also provides interest free loans to the sugar cane farmer co-operatives. In Paraguay the farmers have used this resource to purchase trucks so they can transport their cane harvest more easily and faster to the Mill. Once sugar cane has been cut it has to be crushed at the Mill within 24 hours to prevent the sugar from spoiling.
Information on Sugar Cane
Like many grasses, organic sugar cane is one of nature's best photosynthesizes, converting up to 2% of the sunlight it receives into carbohydrates, or sugars. The cane looks like bamboo, and every year farmers reserve ten percent of each harvest for replanting. The cane is cut into foot-long batons, and the sugar cane stalks are planted in a shallow trench. The cane is sprinkled with chicken manure and other organic fertilizers and covered in topsoil.
The weeding for organic sugar cane is all completed by hand, which is very labor-intensive but an important part of the production process.
Sugar cane’s growing cycle varies from place to place; it generally takes from nine to 12 months for cane to mature. It grows to over 8 feet tall and then it is hand harvested with machetes. The leaves are sliced off in the field and left where they fell. They protect the topsoil; provide a natural weed suppressant and an important source of nutrients that slowly leach back into the soil.
The sugar cane crop is often rotated every three years with nitrogen-fixing vegetables such as beans. Crop rotation allows the soil “to rest,” helps replace the nitrogen that is lost from the soil, and provides a field in which farmers can grow a variety of vegetables for their family and community.
What happens after organic sugar cane is cut?
When the sugar cane is harvested, farmers have to get it to the mill within 24 hours or the sugars in the cane will start to spoil. Many co-ops have invested their organic premiums in new trucks to ensure the valuable crop gets to the mill in prime condition. The Mill in Paraguay is on average 3 hours away from the fields, so it is important to have reliable transport or an entire daily harvest could be lost.
At the mill, cane is crushed to extract its sweet, nutrient rich juice. The juice is collected and water, distilled from a nearby river, is added to make a sweet syrup. The syrup is clarified with slaked lime to remove any impurities, then concentrated through heat, and crystallized to produce organic evaporated cane juice (granulated sugar). Organic evaporated cane juice is a first crystallization sugar. This means that it is very minimally processed, has a warm golden color, and contains small amounts of the cane’s molasses in and around the sugar crystal.
Are fossil fuels used in organic sugar cane production?
Organic Sugar Cane production is completely Green in the true sense of the word! Absolutely no fossil fuels are used to produce organic sugars. The sugar cane arrives at the mill, where it is crushed and the juice is squeezed out. The spent cane is called bagasse. Bagasse is the fibrous material that is left after all the juice has been squeezed out of the cane. It is used as the fuel for furnaces that generates all the electricity required to run the mills. In fact, at many locations, the mill generates enough electricity for the surrounding villages as well.
What are some of the key benefits of organic sugar cane?
Farmers grow organic sugar cane without the use of herbicides or pesticides, which means that neither they nor the land are subjected to these toxins. Weeding is done completely by hand, which creates local employment and enables farmers to secure a premium price for their certified organic cane. The community as a whole benefits. For example, in Paraguay, the community has invested in orange and grapefruit trees and in land for the orchard. The citrus trees are intercropped with other trees to promote biodiversity, and community members now have fresh fruit to eat at home and sell at the market.
Compared to traditional cane sugar the practices are starkly different. In Paraguay each hectare (two acres) of conventional sugar cane uses 350kgs (about 800 lbs) of Synthetic Fertilizer (Nitrogen-Based) and 1 liter of a Chemical Herbicide Concentrate, which is diluted for weed control each crop year. Organic Cane Farming per hectare uses about 1.5 Metric Tonnes of Chicken Manure and all weeding is done by hand.