Environment & Policy
When it comes to environmentally friendly technology, our farmers lead the way.
Cooperative farmers are pioneering new technological breakthroughs and incorporating thoughtful farming practices that result in cleaner water and healthier soil. We understand that caring for the land is good for business—and we operate with great awareness that the land we farm is ecologically sensitive.
That’s why our farmers use the latest technologies to plan for their crop cycles, planting crops , soil testing and applying just the right amount of nutrients for plant health; as well as monitor and plan for weather conditions. Moreover, the Cooperative is an innovator in green technologies and engineering methods to recycle and reuse materials in an ecologically-friendly manner.
Farmers have achieved a long-term average annual reduction of 55 percent in nutrients leaving the farming region through the implementation of on-farm best management practices. The farming region absorbs more phosphorus, the nutrient of concern, than it receives from external source
Renewable energy is important to us, too. That’s one of the reasons the Cooperative’s mill utilizes a co-product of sugarcane processing as a solid fuel source, which generates steam and electricity for our mill. This process eliminates the need to burn the equivalent of 31 million gallons of fuel oil annually. That’s enough to power 79,000 home each year!
At the Cooperative, we’re family farmers.
Many of the Cooperative’s grower-members are Glades pioneer families who are now in the third and fourth farming generations. Our legacy is in the land. And our job is to farm it with great care, so that these family farms may be passed on from one generation to the next.
