Tourists visiting Maui can no longer ooh and aah at the spectacular flames – and choking smoke – from burning sugar cane after the harvest. The last shipment of sugar from Hawaii was recently unloaded at the C & H (California & Hawaiian) plant in the tiny town of Crockett, northeast of San Francisco. After 145 years – one year less than Ringling Brothers Circus – the sugar industry is no more in Hawaii. Government subsidies and cheap labor have made sugar from Florida the winner in the marketplace.
Burning fields is no longer considered a good thing anywhere. Grass-seed farmers in Oregon’s Willamette Valley annually cleansed their field with fire. The smoke also resulted in deadly accidents on Interstate 5, which runs through the valley.
Critics of sugar consumption are likely not sorry to see the industry’s demise. More and more we hear about sugar’s bad effects on our health.
If you have an hour and a half to spare, check out this documentary about the sugar industry in Florida.
