Plants trap the sun's light energy through the chlorophyll and use it to produce sugars. Two plants, sugar beet and sugar cane produce and store enough to make it worthwhile to grow, harvest and process them for their sugars.
The Growing Of Sugar Cane
Part 1 - The Beginning
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Sugar cane which Ragus predominately refines from is a tall grass which reaches a height of 4 to 5 metres. The cane is a tropical plant which requires ample rainfall and abundant sunshine in the summer, with moderate winters for the canes to grow in such countries as: Brazil, Cuba, India, Mauritius and the West Indies.
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The cane seeds are too small to plant directly in the field. Instead mature harvested stalks are cut into 20 inch segments, placed in furrows in the field and covered with soil. Three weeks later sprouts will appear and after 12 months the sugar cane is ready to harvest. For organic production intercropping with varieties such as black beans or soya will be planted in between the rows of younger canes for the first 6 months. Organic plantations will also have 'greenways' set aside of natural vegetation between the field boundaries. On average the fields will produce 80 tonnes of cane per hectare (22 tonnes per acre) for conventional cane and 64 tonnes for organic.
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Mechanical combine harvesters slice the cane stalks just above root level, but areas of rugged terrain have to rely on the cane being cut by hand. The cut canes is then loaded on trailers and taken to the processing mills, where on average 8 tonnes of cut cane will produce 1 tonne of crystalline sugar.
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One cane crop will yield 4-5 harvests before the soil is treated with phosphate nitrogen fertiliser and planted with new canes. For organic production the fields will then be planted with an alternative crop such as rice or soya beans, which enables the soil to recover nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous without the use of chemical fertiliser.
