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Organic & Natural: Our Environmental Responsibility
 


Our Green Rule ....

Wholesome Sweeteners' ethos is shaped by a deep concern for the long-term health of the planet and all of its inhabitants. We believe in sustainability, traditionally made artisanal products and a very light footprint. It's a big job, but we're making progress.

We strongly believe in the importance of sustainable and organic agriculture; not only to provide the best-tasting, highest quality sugars but also to encourage a safe and beautiful future for the planet.

• We ensure that all our employees and those of our suppliers are fairly remunerated against industry norms.  We also ensure that our suppliers’ employees/farmers have access to welfare and social programs that include healthcare, education and self-determination.

• Protection of Children
We will not employ children nor will we knowingly permit our suppliers to employ children in the harvesting, processing or production of any of the products we buy from them.

We use traditional methods ...

  • From the seed stock to harvest, our sugar cane is cultivated by hand and grown without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides
  • Wherever possible, we work with Fair Trade CertifiedTM farmers cooperatives 
  • At the small mills, our products are made simply and the spent sugar cane or blue agave remnants, called bagasse, are recycled as fuel to generate electricity for the mill and nearby villages.

Where do we source our sugar cane?

Wholesome Sweeteners sources high quality sugar from partner mills and farmer co-operatives around the world. Much of our Organic Sugar comes from South America, particularly Paraguay and Brazil.

 

In Paraguay, we have been proud to work with our partner Mill Azucarera Paraguaya’s for the last 11 years.  The mission is to provide an excellent product, in an ethical manner, while keeping the environmental impact to a minimum.  

 

•The Mill produces 20% of the sugar cane required and the rest is purchased from co-operatives of family farmers.  As demand for Organic Sugar has continues to increase more and more local farmers are receiving training and help from AZPA to convert to organic farming practices.  

 

•The growers all receive the same remuneration per tonne of sugar cane and are guarantee payment within 15 days.  The majority of the farms in Paraguay are smaller scale sugar farms generally ranging from 0.5 - 30 hectares.

 

•Schools are provided to all employees, all agricultural workers and their families.  The curriculum includes English lessons and computer studies held in the recently added computer suite. The children are strongly encouraged to participate in the Junior Achievement Programs.

 

•Healthcare including doctors and medication, are provided free for all employees and farmers.  

 

•Housing. Mill workers and employees with over five years of service are awarded a plot of land and an interest-free loan to build upon it. Water, Electricity and Sewage are all provided.   

 

•The Paraguayan Farmer Co-Operatives have used the additional income received from growing an organic crop to purchase tractors, which are shared by the community, to establish a broadband radio station so they can communicate, improve schools and health care and develop their land and crops.  

 

•Wholesome Sweeteners also provides interest free loans to the sugar cane farmer co-operatives.  In Paraguay the farmers have used this resource to purchase trucks so they can transport their cane harvest  more easily and faster to the Mill. Once sugar cane has been cut it has to be crushed at the Mill within 24 hours to prevent the sugar from spoiling.

 

Information on Sugar Cane

Like many grasses, organic sugar cane is one of nature's best photosynthesizes, converting up to 2% of the sunlight it receives into carbohydrates, or sugars. The cane looks like bamboo, and every year farmers reserve ten percent of each harvest for replanting. The cane is cut into foot-long batons, and the sugar cane stalks are planted in a shallow trench.  The cane is sprinkled with chicken manure and other organic fertilizers and covered in topsoil. 

 

The weeding for organic sugar cane is all completed by hand, which is very labor-intensive but an important part of the production process. 

Sugar cane’s growing cycle varies from place to place; it generally takes from nine to 12 months for cane to mature. It grows to over 8 feet tall and then it is hand harvested with machetes.  The leaves are sliced off in the field and left where they fell. They protect the topsoil; provide a natural weed suppressant and an important source of nutrients that slowly leach back into the soil.

 

The sugar cane crop is often rotated every three years with nitrogen-fixing vegetables such as beans.  Crop rotation allows the soil “to rest,” helps replace the nitrogen that is lost from the soil, and provides a field in which farmers can grow a variety of vegetables for their family and community. 

 

What happens after organic sugar cane is cut?
When the sugar cane is harvested, farmers have to get it to the mill within 24 hours or the sugars in the cane will start to spoil. Many co-ops have invested their organic premiums in new trucks to ensure the valuable crop gets to the mill in prime condition. The Mill in Paraguay is on average 3 hours away from the fields, so it is important to have reliable transport or an entire daily harvest could be lost. 

 

At the mill, cane is crushed to extract its sweet, nutrient rich juice. The juice is collected and water, distilled from a nearby river, is added to make a sweet syrup. The syrup is clarified with slaked lime to remove any impurities, then concentrated through heat, and crystallized to produce organic evaporated cane juice (granulated sugar). Organic evaporated cane juice is a first crystallization sugar. This means that it is very minimally processed, has a warm golden color, and contains small amounts of the cane’s molasses in and around the sugar crystal.


Are fossil fuels used in organic sugar cane production?
Organic Sugar Cane production is completely Green in the true sense of the word! Absolutely no fossil fuels are used to produce organic sugars. The sugar cane arrives at the mill, where it is crushed and the juice is squeezed out. The spent cane is called bagasse. Bagasse is the fibrous material that is left after all the juice has been squeezed out of the cane. It is used as the fuel for furnaces that generates all the electricity required to run the mills. In fact, at many locations, the mill generates enough electricity for the surrounding villages as well. 

 

What are some of the key benefits of organic sugar cane?
Farmers grow organic sugar cane without the use of herbicides or pesticides, which means that neither they nor the land are subjected to these toxins. Weeding is done completely by hand, which creates local employment and enables farmers to secure a premium price for their certified organic cane.  The community as a whole benefits. For example, in Paraguay, the community has invested in orange and grapefruit trees and in land for the orchard. The citrus trees are intercropped with other trees to promote biodiversity, and community members now have fresh fruit to eat at home and sell at the market. 

 

Compared to traditional cane sugar the practices are starkly different.  In Paraguay each hectare (two acres) of conventional sugar cane uses 350kgs (about 800 lbs) of Synthetic Fertilizer (Nitrogen-Based) and 1 liter of a Chemical Herbicide Concentrate, which is diluted for weed control each crop year.  Organic Cane Farming per hectare uses about 1.5 Metric Tonnes of Chicken Manure and all weeding is done by hand.

 


    The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Organic logo is Wholesome's promise that we hold every product to a high environmental standard. Each product bearing the Organic logo has been grown and milled to the USDA's National Organic Program (NOP) standards and without the aid of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or chemicals. Our suppliers are routinely inspected by Wholesome's operations team as well as inspectors from Quality Assurance International, a third-party certifier, to assure that we maintain USDA Organic Standards.



Wholesome Sweeteners Approach

Wholesome Sweeteners buys organic cane from independently certified farmers in Brazil, Costa Rica, Malawi and Paraguay. We guarantee that our organically certified sugars, syrups and nectars are cultivated without herbicides and pesticides. Rather than spread chemicals or burn the fields, Wholesome Sweeteners' farmers let nature support the crop's cultivation. Recycled chicken feed is used as occasional fertilizer. The cane's trimmed leaves and stalks are left in the fields, providing cover and forage for wildlife, then decomposing naturally, returning important nutrients to the soil, helping retain moisture and acting as a natural form of weed control. 

Consumer support of organic sugar products has had a significant impact on the way farmers grow their cane: Between 2001 and 2007, there was a 10-fold increase in land dedicated to organic cane cultivation in Paraguay alone--from 10,000 acres to nearly 100,000 acres. And as more and more farmers convert to organic cultivation, they're joining Fair Trade Cooperatives as well.

Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade programs help small sugar farmers earn more so they can pay for organic certification and training in sustainable agriculture techniques as well as converting land to organic cultivation. Paraguay and Costa Rica grow organic Fair Trade Certified sugar cane.



Fostering Sustainability


Raising Cane & Making Sugar


The Honey Makers


Hecho en Mexico: Organic Blue Agave Production & Processing 


 


 


Fostering Sustainability

Although the investment of Fair Trade premiums is determined by the co-op members themselves, far from any influence by Wholesome Sweeteners, we're happy to report that the co-ops are developing an ever-increasing number of environmentally oriented programs.


q       In Malawi, women and children no longer have to walk miles from the village to the river to collect water; the Fair Trade premiums have been invested in a centrally located water well that beings safe water into the village. The farmers are replanting and improving the cane crop, as well as other traditional food crops.


q       In Costa Rica on Fair Trade Certified and organic farms, reforestation projects have brought diversity back to ecosystems and the farmers have invested in improved organic furnaces that burn the crushed cane (called bagasse) after the cane juice has been collected.


q       In Paraguay, the co-op has invested Fair Trade Certified premiums in orange and grapefruit trees and land for a small orchard. The citrus trees are intercropped with other trees to promote biodiversity, and the members have fresh fruit to eat at home and sell at the market. And as the traditional keepers of cures, the women of the coop have planted and tend a medicinal garden. It's a great opportunity to begin teaching the next generation about sustainability and stewardship.


 

 Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade Certified Organic Honeys


q       In Mexico, the Fair Trade Certified beekeeper cooperatives tend hives deep in designated organic agricultural zones. The Fair Trade programs add a value to protecting habitat--it means the beekeepers can develop the quality of the hives and forage areas and build thriving communities. By protecting the hives and forage areas, Fair Trade encourages biodiversity and helps the forests thrive, too.


q       Wholesome’s Fair Trade Certified Organic Honey beekeeper cooperatives recycle beeswax collected as part of the honey harvest to help bees build new combs in their hives.


 



 


 

 


 

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