As a whole, Palm Beach County consists of approximately 20% black residents, 23% Hispanic, and 57% white residents [1]. Pahokee, South Bay, and Belle Glade, the three towns that represent the western side of the county on Lake Okeechobee, consist of approximately 60% black residents, 27% Hispanic residents, and 13% white residents [1]. Additionally, as a whole Palm Beach County has under 10% of its total residents living in poverty, while 40% of Belle Glade residents, the largest western town, live below the poverty line [1,3].   

Pre-harvest burning is not a new process; in fact, it is outdated and there are other, greener practices to harvest sugarcane. However, it still is the preferred method by the sugar industry because it reduces transportation costs and makes the harvest process quicker and easier (removes excess biomass, reduces insect and snake intrusion, causes water evaporation which increases sugar content) [4]. The sugarcane stalks are heavy because they’re water-rich.  When the plant is burned the leaves fall off and just the stalks remain, which greatly reduces the plant’s weight. The burning also releases harmful byproducts of smoke, soot, and ash into the air [5]. In one year, the sugarcane burning process can emit over 2,800 tons of hazardous air pollutants [6]. Some of these pollutants include particulate matter (including PM 2.5 and PM 10), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) (such as Benzene), Carbonyls (specifically Formaldehyde), Green House Gases (Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, and Nitrogen Oxide), and various Dioxins [1]. Despite the environmental and health consequences of these pollutants, the companies still choose to burn sugarcane [5]. Compared to the rest of the United States, Florida has the most crop burning residue emissions. They emit “17% of the total national CO2, CO and PM2.51 emissions, 12% of all annual PM10 emissions, and 9.5% of all CH4 emissions from crop residue burning” [4].   

The soot and ash released into the air vary in size. The EPA defines inhalable coarse particles as particles ranging from 2.5-10 micrometers in diameters and fine particles usually found in haze and smoke range in diameters up to 2.5 micrometers [7]. Both of which are released during pre-harvest burning. Particulate matter is one of the deadliest forms of air pollution because of its ability to penetrate the lungs and bloodstream of the human body [7]. Some of the health effects include asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, premature delivery, birth defects, premature death, vascular inflammation, atherosclerosis, radiation exposure [7]. All of these effects are health problems faced by residents from Pahokee, Belle Glade, and South Bay. For every 100,000 residents in Palm Beach County, there were 700 asthma-related hospitalizations. This is almost five times the state average [8]. For almost 8 months of every year the residents watch “black snow,” a term for the ash and smoke pollution, fall from the sky. It invasively coats the community members' cars, homes, and clothes [8]. The black snow lowers property value and causes property damage. It also generates a lot of costs towards the clean-up process and pollution. This creates a huge disincentive for investors and new businesses to open in western Palm Beach County [1]. The particulate matter also has negative effects on the Earth’s climate and precipitation levels [7].   

The preharvest burning has been going on for decades. In February 2008, the smoke found its way into the vents of South Bay’s Rosenwald Elementary School. The school debated whether it was more dangerous to stay in the school or evacuate the building and risk greater exposure [3]. Six students were hospitalized and nine were treated by paramedics on-site. This occurrence shined a light on the school’s relationship with the school district and the sugar industry. Six years earlier Rosenwald partnered with both groups to collect revenue on the burns and the fields around their school. Just a month before the incident, the school board was questioning whether or not to renew the lease[3]. Joseph Moore, the district’s chief operating officer at the time, recommended the renewal, as the partnership would profit up to $7,000 per year over the next 5 years [3]. Ultimately disregarding the students' health and safety as the lease renewal took effect just 3 weeks after the evacuation. The director of communications for the School District of Palm Beach County, Claudia Shea, did not respond to any complaints or questions from families, students, and employees that were sent over the subsequent months regarding health questions, health concerns, and allegations that teachers were “discouraged from speaking against the cane burning at school” [3]. Shea eventually made a statement explaining that agriculture is the mainland use so there is not much the schools can do to not be in the immediate proximity of the sugar industry’s operations. Shea also included the school board has no authority over the regulation of where the agricultural activities occurred. Which does not align with the school’s involvement with the sugar industry and the lease surrounding Rosenwald [3]. Initially, the lease agreement included an educational program, Sharing Our Agricultural Roots (SOAR), that intended to immerse students in gardening and plant vegetables. However, the program description did not include the time students could work outside was decreased, to reduce exposure to the smoke and ash from the burns [3]. The air pollution impacts a typical school day as students are prohibited from outdoor play most days of the year. In more recent years the school has updated the design of buildings, so they are all connected, and the students do not have to walk outside between classes [3].

Teachers have come forward on the issue. One admitted they tried to bring awareness to the burning, and they were reprimanded by their supervisor [3]. Another shared an observation on the number of students they would pass sitting in the office because their asthmatic conditions made it difficult for them to partake in P.E. class [3]. Rosenwald’s latest lease with the sugar industry, which was signed in 2017, expires in 2022. It did not include the SOAR gardening program, instead, they justified that Rosenwald students benefit from the partnership by having the “opportunity to be involved in agricultural events sponsored by U.S. Sugar” [3].  

In an October interview for Radar 2020, a weekly news show addressing current issues, Lourdes Hurtado covers a story on the impact of sugar burning on the black and Latinx residents in Palm Beach County. One of these residents being Hernando Salvidar, a Latinx sugarcane worker, in charge of the burning. He explains how the wind directions are checked before burning so the workers know where to start and they can try to control where the ashes go. They are only instructed to NOT burn if the wind is blowing towards the East, or if President Trump is in the area. When asked about his opinion of this matter, Hurtado responded by saying “It’s wrong, you know. I mean like I said he’s just a human like us. Why does his life matter more than ours?” [2]. The lives of the western Palm Beach County and the Glades community members are valued less than the surrounding, more affluent communities.

The residents recognize the injustices they face, but many rely on the sugar industry for work so they cannot do much about it [2]. Their lives are put even more at risk with COVID-19. Despite the correlation between air quality and an increased chance of contracting the virus, the 2020-2021 harvesting season took place. In April of 2020, two letters were sent to the Commissioner of Agriculture, Nikki Fried, calling on her to take action. One letter was sent by businesses, non-profits, and religious institutions around the Glades area, the Florida Council of Churches, Florida Clinicians for Climate Action, and the Miami Climate Alliance [9]. In their letter, they expressed their disgust in the discriminatory nature of the burn regulations and explained that Fried has the authority and responsibility to protect Floridians from outdated agricultural practices that threaten the health and economy of many around the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). The organizations call out Fried on her statement in a 2019 press conference where she said “Keeping Florida’s residents, communities, and the environment is my number one priority” [9]. The letter proposes that Fried should use COVID-19 as an opportunity to institute the first phase of ending pre-harvest sugar field burning by implementing a 27-30 mile buffer around the schools, homes, streets, and churches. Creating a buffer zone will prioritize the health and safety of the residents [9].   

While many environmental groups are trying to get the Glade communities justice, there are also initiatives downplaying the true hazards of sugar burning. The Sustainable Agriculture Fire Education (S.A.F.E.) Communities Initiative is a group of business, agricultural, community, and faith leaders, and sugarcane farmers [10]. Their mission is to educate residents that pre-harvest burns are not linked to negative health conditions, and are necessary for South Florida’s humid climate. One of these members includes the director of corporate communications for U.S. Sugar. Their website states that the “Glades communities enjoy some of the best air quality in the state of Florida, with Palm Beach...ranking among the top of all of Florida’s 67 counties” [10]. However, the EPA’s environmental justice mapping tool, which looks at demographic and environmental indicators, ranks the Glades communities within the 80th to 90th percentile in the most hazardous areas for respiratory health in the United States. Parts of South Bay and Bella Glade fall under the 95th to 100th percentile of the respiratory hazard index which is compared at the national level. This indicates that the communities in western Palm Beach County do not have good air quality [3]. The Stop the Burn Campaign has called out S.AF.E. Communities for their counter-campaign. Instead of addressing the suffering and injustice of these minority communities that are predominately impacted by the pre-harvest burns, S.A.F.E. Communities has tried to frame Stop the Burn for wanting to put the sugar industry out of business and denied burning is related to any negative health impacts [1]. Additionally, S.A.F.E. the front group for Big Sugar, opposes green harvesting, an alternative harvesting process, because they claim burning helps “workers see where they are going. Makes it safer for truck traffic. Eliminates the messy cleanup of leaves and dry materials”. Ultimately, they prioritize saving money over the poisoning of minority, low-income communities [11]. However, the Sierra Club argues that S.A.F.E.’s excuses explaining how the sugarcane leaves can be used for additional sources of income and expand sugar-related jobs. On top of the economic benefits, the climate is less impacted, water pollution is reduced, and the soil can regenerate, which reduces the number of fertilizers needed. All around, the benefits of Green harvesting outweigh the negatives and provide a practice that is much safer than burning, for both humans and the environment [11].    

There is a class-action lawsuit against Big Sugar currently underway. The lawsuit breaks down the plaintiffs into three classes: Property Owner, Medical Monitoring, and Battery. The “Property Owner Class” is defined as:   

“All persons and legal entities (past or present) who own or have owned real property located within the Hazard Zone during the applicable statute of limitations period, including the period following the filing date of this action.” [l2] 

The “Medical Monitoring Class” is defined as:  

“All persons (past or present) over the age of 40, or who will attain the age of 40, who have resided in the Hazard Zone for at least one pre-harvest sugarcane burn season during the applicable statute of limitations period, including the period following the filing date of this action.” [12] 

And the “Battery Class: is defined as:  

“All persons (past or present) who have resided or currently reside in the Hazard Zone during the applicable statute of limitations period, including the period following the filing date of this action.” [12] 

Ultimately, both the class action lawsuit and other environmental campaigns want Big Sugar and the FDACs to make the shift to green harvesting. This method involves repurposing the leaves, also called “trash”, on the soil or for alternative materials, such as tree-free paper [1, 12]. Green harvesting has also been shown to benefit soil health, decrease herbicide use, improve fertility, and over time increase net profits and crop yields [12]. As the Belle Glade Activist, Catherine Martinez, says, “We’re not asking them to do something that will destroy their business. We’re asking them to move up into the 21st century” [2].  

The most common harvest practice of sugarcane in Florida involves burning the sugarcane to remove the outer leaves from the cane stalks. The harvest season starts in October and usually goes on until April. For 6-8-month periods sugar cane is being burned and releasing many harmful chemicals into the air. The process accounts for 86% of Palm Beach County’s emissions of formaldehyde, a probable carcinogen, and 69% of toxic acenaphthylene emissions, a pollutant linked to genetic mutations and cancer [6]. As of October 2019, the agricultural burn permits are required and issued per the FL statute section 590.02(10) The Florida Forest Service (FFS) under the control of the Department of Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) [1]. During the harvest season over 5,000 acres, impacting areas up to 1,500 square miles, can be approved with 70+ burn permits in a single day. In the 2018-2019 harvest season, more than 11,334 burns took place. The burns covered a total of 442,409 acres. Only 3% of all sugarcane permits submitted in this season were denied [1].

Since 1984 the recoverable sugar in Florida’s sugar cane industry has risen from under 10 percent in 1984 to 11.6 percent in 2000-2001. In 2008, the raw sugar crop was valued at approximately $450 million. The fibrous portion of the stalks, also known as bagasse, is burned and used for fuels for the mills. Which saves the sugar producers an estimated 113 million gallons of fuel or 2.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity [14]. In Palm Beach County research for sugar variety development, sugarcane nutrition and physiology, pest control, water use, and economic problems are carried out by the University of Florida Everglades Research and Education Center (EREC) at Belle Glade. The EREC also cooperates with the USDA-ARS at Canal Point. The major sugarcane companies (United States Sugar Corporation, Florida Crystals, and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida) conduct their own studies and research programs at the University of Florida and USDA [14].