Grinding Season

Published/Last Modified on Friday, October 2, 2009 11:34 AM CDT

Congested

Ah, the sinus season is upon us as the poor farmers once again defile the air and endager our roadways with their inconsiderate and antiquated technologies.

I can hear the accusations of "anti-farmer" being tossed my way even as I type this, but please hear me out.

Yesterday I called the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to ask why sugar cane farmers are allowed to disregard the laws pertaining to clean air. The answer I got was shocking: the DEQ is not allowed to even COMMENT on the pollution caused by farmers, much less act on it.

Imagine if every industry was allowed to operate in such a manner. Why can't hospitals dump their hazardous waste into the bayou? Why can't funeral homes? How about the place that changes your oil? Are they allowed to take that old oil and dump it into the storm drain? Of course not.

Sugar cane farmers and sugar mills, however, are allowed to seriously impair our ability to enjoy a good quality of life by dumping tons of smoke and ash into the atmosphere. Each year we put up with stinking air and clothing, sooty ash clinging to our homes and vehicles, and sinus headaches. We also face dangers as we navigate the roadways that have been carelessly muddied and damaged by agriculture vehicles.

Other industries are required by law to remedy problems that impact our environment and, especially, our immediate quality of life. I'm no tree-hugger by any stretch. The DEQ told me that they receive hundreds of calls each year about this issue, but they are powerless. I am contacting my local legislators (state and federal) and I urge others to do the same.

Now, like I said, I'm sure I'll be accused of being anti-farmer, but I'm not. I'm just anti-sinus inflammation and anti-skidding-uncontrollably-on-mud-slicked-roads and anti-stinky air. I'll bet those farmers would complain if the oil companies dumped sludge in the water that is used to water their crops. Does that make them anti-oil company?

Print this story Post a Comment

Comments

GONE COUNTRY wrote on Oct 20, 2009 8:54 PM:

" To the farmer's wife can you live off the land without your fancy equipment i can.If the people stop eating all that SUGAR and eat wright like FRESH foods and not processed crap like SUGAR you would feel alot better.So keep on eating your sugar with rat,skunk,etc.urine that is stored in those big sheds why doesn't the USDA inspect those buildings because like someone said CORPORATE WELFARE thats the bottom line. Have a nice grinding sugar!!! "

Farmers Wife wrote on Oct 15, 2009 4:03 PM:

" To WISH I WAS A POOR FARMER :

What are you talking about? No interest and taxes on equipment? Free tractors? Please post more information about where we can get free tractors because we are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on equipment. And you ask me why the "working man" doesn't get bailed out? How can you exclude farmers from that group? It's ok if you don't like farmers, you don't have to support them - stop eating. "

WISH I WAS A POOR FARMER wrote on Oct 12, 2009 7:13 PM:

" To the farmer's wife farmers should have to pay INTREST and TAXES like everybody an d not buy a piece of equipment and NOT pay for it for a year and then depreciate it SO pretty much you can get a tractor for FREE!!! Why doesn't the working man get bailed out to?Like D.HERTZ said CORPORATE WELFARE and the HONEST taxpayer is the one who suffers.FREE america BULL why don't they have to put tarps to cover their loads like construction companies because they are exempt from that to RULES and TAXES!!!!!!! "

Concerned Grandmother wrote on Oct 10, 2009 4:53 PM:

" Farmers wife just mentioned the farmers scraping roads, if this is done it's not done right then so that means the mud is on roads until it is done. I just got home after waiting about 15 minutes for one to get off the road because it was stuck,after the 2nd tractor pulled it out both had so much mud on tires that I for one was afraid of getting stuck on paved road. "

Spears wrote on Oct 8, 2009 2:18 PM:

" Did you know that Castro has not allowed the Cuban cane farmers to burn the cane? Do you think that they burn it in Florida or Hawaii? No, just us and the Haitians. Thank you farmers for my annual 100 days of sinus headaches and congestion! "

Ellen Brakovich wrote on Oct 6, 2009 9:49 AM:

" Congested, very well written! Although I have some bad news for you. There will be a lot more burning this year. Obama is giving Charlie Boy some of that surplus money to handout to the farmers/mills to burn the excess bagass. Politics as usual in Louisiana. I think a good ol' class action law suit with an out of state attorney and an impartial jury just might be what needs to happen before the farmers start thinking out the box and alter the way they harvest cane. It is 2009 you know! "

Farmers Wife wrote on Oct 5, 2009 5:06 PM:

" There are so many inaccuracies, assumptions, and generalizations in this post and subsequent replies that I don't know where to begin! Let's start with a good resource providing FACTS and information: w w .lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/C3F0AE0A-FC91-48EA-BC50-53B3CD22214B/3294/pub2820sugarburn2.pdf
By the way, the majority of the cinders in the air come from Standing Burns, a practice that Our Farm avoids as often as possible. We only it when the cane is too tangled (from a storm) to cut any other way.

Our Farm also takes pains to scrape the roads when it's muddy; our families travel the same roads as yours. "

Buy it from MexicoCuba wrote on Oct 5, 2009 12:52 PM:

" Do you really want to end an industry and buy something else from another country? Our technology needs to change the industry. Until then, we will continue to feel like cra* during the harvesting season and our roads will continue to deteriorate. My plans are to move away once I retire...if I live that long due to the chemicals that are in the air. "

Berry Bagasse wrote on Oct 5, 2009 6:52 AM:

" This "point/counterpoint" discussion about sugarcane could be made about another industry that is vitally important to South Louisiana. If half the cane farmers were to cut their fields down and start erecting gas and oil wells, I'm sure there would be enough complaints about that. Nothing the cane farms and mills do to "go green" will satisfy these people as they will find something else to complain about because they blame their own discomfort on others...that's their nature. Take a Claritin and deal with it...you're not by yourself except when you complain. Then you're on your own. "

Tom the anti sugar farmer wrote on Oct 4, 2009 11:22 AM:

" The price of sugar in the US has been controlled by the Federal Government since 1812, primarily through very restrictive import quotas and subsidies

At one time US sugar sold for 21 cents a pound in the United States when the world sugar price was less than 3 cents a pound. Each 1-cent increase in the price of sugar adds between $250 million and $300 million to consumers' food bills. A Commerce Department study estimated that the sugar program was costing American consumers more than $3 billion a year. "

A few comments on these posts wrote on Oct 4, 2009 8:53 AM:

" Almost no candy you buy in the stores use our cane sugar (or other products for that matter). Much of the carbon the cane takes up is released back into the atmosphere when it is burned, along with many other pollutants. Along with steam coming out of the smoke stack is the 'Black Rain" of baggasse soot that I deal with including on Christmas Day when the kids try to play outside. BTW, I don't live within 10 miles of any mill. I don't want to toss this industry, but they need to clean up. "

Leave the poor farmers alone wrote on Oct 4, 2009 7:39 AM:

" Farming is a tradition that has been around here for decades. They need to make a living and be good stewards of the soil. I read an article recently where the price of sugar is up. Most poor farmers are still whining all the way to the bank. Ha Ha. I don't know of a poor farmer, does anyone. We will have to deal with sinus and allergies a little while longer. I love the smell of sugar in the air.Hope the weather is good during the harvest season, so our roads will be safe to drive, "

cant believe wrote on Oct 3, 2009 7:29 PM:

" I sure hope you don't like candy or any of the other products made with sugar. We all have a choice as to where we live. Maybe it's time you look elsewhere. I for one will put up with the horrible allergies I have so that we can be a self-sufficient country who can feed its own people. "

Cajunator wrote on Oct 3, 2009 1:02 PM:

" So if you are truly concerned about the environment, and are basing your argument on "quality of life", and "environmental impact", then I think you should seriously re-evaluate the emphasis you put on your "dirty car", "stinky air", and "sinus problems". By the way, regarding "stinky air" and "sinus problems"... Not everyone enjoys the perfume or air freshener you may use. And just because YOU like the way it smells, doesn't necessarily mean it isn't harmful to the environment either. "

Cajunator wrote on Oct 3, 2009 12:39 PM:

" 9)In South Louisiana there are about 465,000 acres of sugarcane.These 465,000 acres are taking CO2, and converting it to Oxygen. 10)How much electricity would be consumed by 465,000 acres of subdivisions? 11)How much landfill mass would 465,000 acres of houses produce? 12)How much additional CO2 emissions would result from services like garbage collection,mail delivery,etc., if these 465,000 "green" acres were exchanged for urban/industrial development? 13)Most farmers I've met are also outdoorsmen, purchase hunting/fishing licenses,& belong to organizations like CCA, DU, etc., all of which contribute $$$/resources to habitat,fisheries,&environment. So to imply that farmers aren't environmentally conscious, is ignorant. "

Cajunator wrote on Oct 3, 2009 11:39 AM:

" 6)The only thing sugar mills release into "the bayou" is water. (There are water quality monitoring stations in the Teche) 7)For the 90 days out of the year that sugar mills are operating, their environmental impact pales in comparison to that of other industries who make up the equivalent percentage contribution to the economy. 8)There are few other industries that do more for "the environment", or "respect the land" more than farming. Contaminated soil doesn't grow 40 ton cane. Farming keeps urban development from turning "green acreage" into "consumptive acreage",and helps offset some of its own environmental impacts. "

Despite this time of year.. wrote on Oct 3, 2009 11:38 AM:

" To Cajunator: Nobody made mention of the steam coming from the stacks at the mills, I was talking about the emissions given off while burning the FIELDS. "

Cajunator wrote on Oct 3, 2009 10:41 AM:

" Some of these points are valid, but some are simply false. 1)Cane farmers don't "water" their crops 2)Almost all of the "smoke" you see emitted from sugar mills is actually steam. 3)Overloaded trucks are a myth, since there is a law that forces sugar mills to only pay farmers for the amount of tons per load allowed by the standard weight limits. So why would farmers give away cane? 4)Farmers aren't allowed to dump waste oil into storm drains 5)The "sooty ash" does far less damage to our cars than love-bugs during the love-bug season. "

kmd wrote on Oct 3, 2009 9:05 AM:

" I thought they were supposed to be a ban on burning the fields. I used to live across from cane fields, and when they decided it was time to burn, they actually would do it by sneaking in and setting the fire. Terrible. Couldn't wait to move out of New Iberia. No sunshine, trackers with no lights, trucks hauling the cane like idiots,with no plates on trailers speeding like idiots with no respect to the traffic, all on Hwy 90 passing State Troopers. Don't miss it at all.... "

Concerned Grandmother wrote on Oct 3, 2009 8:49 AM:

" To Chicken or Egg is there such a place that one or other is'nt near by not critcizing just asking "

D. Hertz wrote on Oct 2, 2009 11:13 PM:

" Amen brother! You may not get much help from "local" legislators, because they may be in bed with the farmers. You may want to search out legislators that have engaged in this fight, that are not from around here.

Cane farmers are the recipients of corporate welfare in the way of subsidies on the sugar market. "

Chicken or Egg came first wrote on Oct 2, 2009 1:37 PM:

" I grew up with a sugarcane field right behind my backyard and can sympathize with the issues you point out. Now that I'm an adult, I made a conscious decision (through the search for my own home) not to live near the fields or the mills. We all have choices and as I see it, they were here first. The developers decided to build neighborhoods in the middle of cane fields, the residents chose to buy there and now they want to complain. I doubt any new fields or mills just popped up near your house-recently. "

Tom T. wrote on Oct 2, 2009 1:14 PM:

" I'm with you. It's past time that we crack down on these mills and the farmers who tear up the roads and suffer no consequences. Why is it permissible for a cane truck to be overloaded but not other industry vehicles? That amazes me. "

What a load of bagasse wrote on Oct 2, 2009 1:02 PM:

" It would be hard to convince someone that you've lived here all your life. Grinding is an annual event and everyone deals with it. Sugar is what makes this area great. The oil industry has its ups and downs, but every year, they grind cane. Somehow, we all benefit from the sugar industry and tolerating the grinding months is (in a way) part of football. You would miss it if it was gone....something just wouldn't feel right. So take a Claritan, and keep your hose handy. It'll be over before you know it. "

Despite this time of year... wrote on Oct 2, 2009 12:18 PM:

" Very well said, LOVE the post!!! I wonder if any of these farmers have a Carbon Monoxide monitor in their homes to protect the lives of their families, I'm assuming they have gas amenities. NOW, I wonder if they realize the CO content that they are putting in our air when they burn their fields??? "

old eagle wrote on Oct 2, 2009 11:56 AM:

" "Congested" makes several valid points. However, the sugar mills were here before I was. Without their economic impact on this area, I seriously doubt that
there would be any significant civilization here. Therefore, if they were not here first, most of us would probably not be here either. That being said, there is some room for improvement concerning some of the issues raised. "

WRITE A COMMENT

Use the form below to post a brief comment related to this story. Use the word count tool to assist you in keeping your remarks to 100 words or fewer.

•Comments must be approved by an editor or the publisher before appearing on the Web site but are not verified for accuracy nor have we verified the identity of any person supposedly posting an comment. Please consider this as you consider any statement made. A thoughtful contribution to the online discussion is appreciated.

• Please note your comments must attempt to follow basic rules of grammar and punctuation or they will not be posted. Do not use unfamiliar abbreviations or text-like short cuts, like ur for your. Please keep your tone civil. You can say someone's idea is stupid but you cannot say someone is stupid.

• Comments should deal with matters of public concern. Problems with private individuals or private companies are not likely to get posted.

• Questions or comments about items posted should be e-mailed to dailyiberian@bellsouth.net.

Classifieds

Place Your Ad

View All Ads

Contact Us

Subscribe
Vacation Hold
General Email

Mailing Address:
The Daily Iberian
P.O. Box 9290
New Iberia, LA
70562-9290

Street Address:
926 East Main St.
New Iberia, LA 70560

Phone:
(337) 365-6773

Fax:
(337)-367-9640

Inside Louisiana:
800-365-6773

Grinding Season

Comments

WRITE A COMMENT

Classifieds

Jobs

Homes

Autos

Contact Us

Local Weather