Appendix 4: Brazil - Sugarcane Best Cultivation Practices
The Brazilian sugarcane industry employs modern agronomic management practices to enhance productivity and protect the environment. Key features of Brazil’s sustainable approach to cultivation and processing include:
Low Soil Erosion
Brazilian sugarcane fields have relatively low levels of soil loss, due in part to the semi-perennial nature of sugarcane. The same plant will grow back many times after it is cut and its cane juice is extracted. In fact, sugarcane is typically only replanted every six or seven years.
The Brazilian industry also emphasizes farming techniques that preserve soil stability while yielding approximately 85 tons of sugarcane per hectare. Strategies include:
No-till production systems
Crop rotation with soybeans or peanuts
Green fertilization by planting cover crops such as Crotalaria juncea or using leftover sugarcane straw after mechanized harvesting as ground cover
Thanks to these responsible agricultural practices, soil erosion in sugarcane fields is minimal when compared to many other crops such as rice and soybeans (For more read the “Environmental sustainability of sugarcane ethanol in Brazil” study). In some regions of the country, sugarcane has been produced on the same soil for more than 200 years with continuous yield and soil carbon increases.
Minimum Water Use
Thanks to abundant and reliable rainfall, sugarcane is usually not irrigated in South-Central Brazil, where most of the country’s crop is grown. Water accounts for more than two-thirds of sugarcane’s weight, so a significant amount of water actually comes to the mill inside the cane itself.
Brazilian mills emphasize efficiency and have reduced the water used during industrial processing by more than 70% (to 1.4 m³ per ton) during the past two decades. New technologies will soon allow for a more efficient use of the water contained in the cane, and water withdrawal could be reduced to 0.5 m3/ton. Today, nearly 95% of the water consumed by a typical mill is later treated and re-used in the industrial process, with the objective to eliminate water discharge.
Reduced Use of Agrochemicals
Application of pesticides on Brazilian sugarcane fields are negligible and use of fungicides practically nonexistent. Major diseases that threaten sugarcane are fought through biological control, introducing natural enemies to fight pests and advanced genetic enhancement programs.
Brazilian sugarcane growers also apply relatively few industrialized fertilizers, using on average 75 kilograms per hectare. That’s 50% less than the amount typically applied to corn in the United States and 30% less than what’s used for beet sugar in Europe.
Brazilian sugarcane needs fewer chemicals due to the innovative use of organic fertilizers created during sugarcane processing. For instance, sugarcane mills recover residues called filter cake (which is rich in phosphorus) and vinasse (loaded with potassium, organic matter and other nutrients), which they use in place of traditional fertilizers.