U.S. Sugar uses the latest science and technology to produce the highest quality sugar, fresh vegetables, and orange juice. Employing advanced practices in planting, harvesting and transportation allows the company to maximize their crops while protecting the environment and communities where their people reside.
Their entire sugarcane crop is harvested by GPS guided equipment before it is transported to its milling facility by railroad using its automated radio frequency identification system to coordinate data, timing and distribution logistics throughout
the entire operation.
In 2019, U.S. Sugar completed construction on Boiler #9, one of the most advanced and efficient biomass boilers of its kind in the world. In fact, Boiler #9 is so efficient, that it produces an equal amount of combined steam production to the three older boilers it replaced—meaning it produces the same amount of steam using
less fuel.
U.S. Sugar’s boilers are powered by bagasse, the leftover sugarcane fiber from the company’s milling process. This clean, green, renewable source of fuel is sustainable and renewable because the sugarcane crop is grown annually in Florida. Additionally, U.S. Sugar produces enough power to send a surplus supply to the grid to power more than 25,000 homes each year.
U.S. Sugar is a farming company that grows sugarcane, citrus and sweet corn. More than a dozen other fresh vegetables are raised on its farm lands. The company was founded in 1931 by Charles Stewart Mott, a leading innovator who hailed from a long line of farmers. Since the beginning, the company’s success has been rooted in traditional farming values combined with progressive business technologies and
innovation.
On the Cutting Edge
- U.S. Sugar’s 2,500 employee-owners stay connected through a vast Wi-Fi network covering 270 square miles, the largest of its kind in the the world.
- Commissioned in 1998, it was the first refinery in the nation to vertically integrate the entire sugar-making process, from field and raw milling to refinery.
- The company’s fleet of smart tractors and harvesters are equipped with GPS technology and Autosteer, reducing fuel costs and driving precision and efficiency.
- Recently, a new harvesting software was launched. Similar in style and functionality to Uber, harvest operators can use the app to signal the nearest available wagon and send it to the harvest crews.
- U.S. Sugar’s railroad transportation of harvested cane from the fields to the mill/refinery takes 2,000 trucks off the road every year, improving air quality in its local communities.