Sugar Cane Harvest: Belle Glade, Florida

This travellog covers a day sightseeing around Belle Glade, Florida during the Sugar Cane Harvest.

Belle Glade, Florida sugar cane field being prepared

As approached Belle Glade (on the southeast edge of Lake Okeechobee) from the South on US 27. Bingo, we pop out into sugar cane country. Actually, sugar cane is king in this area but the rich land also produces truck crops such as green beans, squash, tomatoes, bell peppers and such --- but by and large the major crop is sugar cane. Where else can you see tractors plowing rich black earth like this? On the far side of this tractor you can see harvested sugar cane fields stretching to the horizon.

Sugar cane around Belle Glade, Florida

While I am not an expert in sugar cane this appears to be a field of "young" sugar cane. I think they get about three annual cuttings of sugar cane before they plow it all up and replant. This looks to me like a field that was harvested a month or so ago and is beginning to grow out or possibly a field that was planted a few months ago.

Mature sugar cane field near Belle Glade, Florida

These stately palms are in the middle of several thousand acres of mature sugar cane. Notice the sugar processing plant in the center background of this picture. All you can see of the plant is the smoke/steam coming out of the stacks. The sugar cane in this picture is fully grown and ready for harvest. However, before harvesting begins the field will be burned to get rid of everything but the cane. More on this later.

Sugar cane train carrying harvested sugar cane to processing plant near Belle Glade, Florida

One of the large sugar companies (American Sugar I think) actually transports a lot of their sugar to their mill via a rail line. Here is a picture of that local rail road in action. Instead of using 18-wheelers to haul sugar between the field and mill they utilize a small rail system. It is not mini in the size of the equipment just the number of miles of track. When we took the plant tour a number of years ago I think I remember our docent telling us that when the trucks stopped delivering in the afternoon the mill started unloading train cars thus they had a steady supply of cane available at the plant 24/7. This full train, probably a mile long, was heading to the sugar mill.

Sugar cane harvest transport equipment near Belle Glade, Florida

This large tractor pulling three containers of sugar cane is the method they all use to get the harvested sugar cane out of the fields. They either deliver it to a rail siding where the cane is transferred to a RR car or to a place off the highway like this where cane fresh from the field is transferred to an 18-wheeler. It is the RR or 18-wheeler that will actually delivers the harvested sugar cane to the mill. The tractors just operate in the fields between the harvesters and this transfer station. This tractor is about to enter the ramp that leads to a bin with a large conveyor belt. A hydraulic dump on each of these trailers dumps the contents into the bin and the conveyor belt moves it to the waiting 18-wheeler.

Sugar Cane Harvest, Hauling and Loading Equipment near Belle Glade, Florida

In this picture you can better see the operation where a large conveyor belt is being used to deposit the contents of those tractor pulled loads of sugar cane to the 18-wheelers trailer.

The tractor pulled load of cane is on that ramp on the far side of the 18-wheeler.

The tractor pulled load is only on that transfer station ramp a minute or so. It is an extremely efficient transfer method.

Harvested sugar cane on the way to processing plant in Belle Glade, Florida

This is one of the 18-wheelers pulling onto the highway after being loaded with harvested sugar cane in the above, in field, transfer station.

Sugar cane harvest equipment near Belle Glade, Florida

This rig is headed back to the field after emptying at the transfer station. It will connect up with a harvester for another load.

If you look on the horizon just above the tractor you can see two harvesters moving through the sugar cane fields.

Sugar cane harvesters at work in field near Belle Glade, Florida

Here you can see three harvesters moving in tandem with those tractors pulling the storage bins.

Sugar cane harvester near Belle Glade, Florida

This harvester operator waved to us as he was positioning his machine for another run down those long rows that seem to stretch to the horizon.

Sugar cane harvesting equipment in the field near Belle Glade, Florida

This is another picture of the harvester and tractor drawn storage trailers moving through a field. While this sugar cane may look "bad" all the grass has been burned off the cane. Prior to harvesting they pull water off the fields to dry them out so harvesters can get in plus dry out the cane so they can "burn" the fields. When sufficiently dry they set the fields on fire burning off all the dry material leaving only the cane stalks ----- at least that is what they hope happens.

Mature sugar cane field near Belle Glade, Florida

This is what a mature cane field looks like before they set it on fire. After the fire it looks like the field in the picture above. The cane in this picture is 6 to 8 feet tall.