U.S. Sugar Corporation is Florida's largest and oldest producer of sugar cane. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Southern Gardens Citrus, is one of America's leading producers of oranges and orange juice products. The Company also farms rice and corn, and owns a short-line railroad. U.S. Sugar accounts for about 10 percent of all the sugar produced in America.
Most sugar is used in processed foods including cakes, candies, ice cream and breakfast cereals.
The rest, about 25 percent, becomes the familiar packaged sugar on grocer's shelves, which Americans can buy for less than consumers in virtually every developed country in the world. Sugar Production Sugar cane is cultivated on more than 165,000 acres of Company-owned or leased land and more than 50,000 acres of leased land and land owned by independent farmers. The crop is planted and harvested between October and March. Mechanical harvesters cut the mature cane stalks that are brought to the mills on the company's internal railroad. Each year, U.S. Sugar produces over 700,000 tons of raw sugar, which is piped to U.S. Sugar's new refinery for further processing and distribution.