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365 is back after days of absence...Back with a splash.
Nothing fancy, just splashy water this time. This kind of sums up how I feel at the moment. Go figure...
Digital photo via Nikon D90 w/ 18-135mm lens; enhanced in Photomatix & Adobe Photoshop CS4.
I had a perfect evening for this challenge yesterday! I'm very happy it wasn't raining. I was at the mall, so I snapped some bracketed images in the parking lot before leaving and made an hdr image from them.
I love sunsets!
Flower Patch.
These flowers always remind me of the precious week I spent in Eabametoong or Fort Hope, a fly-in First Nation's community in North-western Ontario. There I met some of the warmest and resilient people I will ever have the pleasure of knowing.
I didn't take pictures during the day and it was just at night after a birthday party than I decided to use my camera on my bike. The result is perfect for me ;)
Why do they burn sugarcane before harvesting and does doesn’t it not harm
the sugar?
It might look alarming to see a massive field of crops intentionally set on fire, but there is actually a very strategic—and historically essential—reason for it.
Here is exactly why sugarcane is burned before harvest, and why the sugar inside stays perfectly safe.
Why Burn the Fields?
The primary reason for burning sugarcane is efficiency and safety.
Clearing the Waste: A mature sugarcane plant consists of a sugar-rich stalk surrounded by a massive amount of leafy, razor-sharp green waste (called "trash"). Burning quickly destroys these leaves and the dead foliage while leaving the tough, moisture-heavy stalks completely intact.
Pest Control: Sugarcane fields are prime real estate for dangerous pests. In places like Australia and South America, burning clears out venomous snakes, rats, and biting insects, making it significantly safer for hand-harvesters or mechanical operators.
Easier Transport & Milling: Removing the leaves means trucks and mills only transport the valuable stalks, rather than wasting energy and space on useless foliage.
Why Doesn't It Harm the Sugar?
It seems counterintuitive that a raging fire won't ruin the crop, but it comes down to basic physics and plant biology:
1. High Moisture Content
Sugarcane stalks are incredibly dense and packed with water. Because they are so wet, they don't actually catch fire. The fire sweeps through the dry leaves incredibly fast—often lasting only 15 to 30 minutes—which isn't enough time to heat the internal core of the stalk to a damaging temperature.
2. The Sugar is Protected
The sugar (sucrose) is safely stored inside the juicy pith of the stalk, shielded by a tough, fibrous outer rind. The brief flash of heat might slightly char the outside, but it doesn't cook or burn the sugar inside.
The Catch: Once a field is burned, a clock starts ticking. The heat triggers a natural chemical breakdown in the plant. If the burned cane isn't harvested and milled within 24 to 48 hours, the sugar content will begin to decline rapidly.
The Shift Away from Burning
While burning has been the standard for generations, it is steadily being phased out in many parts of the world (including modern Australian farming).
Today, advanced mechanical harvesters can perform "green cane harvesting." These machines cut the cane and use powerful fans to separate the leaves from the stalks right in the field, leaving the leafy "trash" behind as mulch to protect the soil. This eliminates the massive smoke clouds and environmental impact of traditional burns.