In recent years in Florida, environmental groups and communities concerned about algal blooms in the Everglades and smoke from sugarcane burning have become increasingly vocal critics of the state’s sugar growers.
But that new opposition in Florida has so far failed to turn the tides against the sugar industry in Washington.
Beginning in the 1990s, sugar lobbies sponsored tours for staffers, including for lawmakers and staffers to attended so-called “Sweetener Symposiums,” in ski resort towns, California wine country, and Asheville, N.C., to discuss federal agriculture policy.
Congress passed ethics reforms in 2007, ending the luxury tours. But companies found a work-around, incorporating educational-themed nonprofits to sponsor staff trips.
Among those on tours over the last decade include eight staffers for the House Agriculture Committee who formerly reported to Peterson, whose district encompassed the sugar-beet-fertile Red River Valley.
In Louisiana, a group of sugar insiders formed the nonprofit Louisiana Sugar Cane Foundation in 2009 to host annual tours of the state’s sugar industry. On paper, the nonprofit is unrelated to the American Sugar Cane League, though the group lists the P.O. box of a sugar mill tied to the league as its mailing address.
