[6][5] Florida's sugarcane production expanded significantly since the United States ceased importing sugar from Cuba in 1960.
[4] In Louisiana, the northernmost cane-growing state, sugarcane production has been largely confined to the Mississippi River Delta, where soils are fertile and the climate is warm.
However, the sugar industry in Louisiana has expanded northward and westward into nontraditional sugarcane growing areas.
Most of the expansion in sugarcane acreage has occurred when returns for competing crops, such as rice and soybeans, have decreased.
[4] Texas sugarcane was produced in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in the southern tip of the state.
[4] However, as of April 23, 2024, the last sugarcane mill in Texas, the Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers, Inc, in Santa Rosa, closed its doors after 51 years in operations due to water scarcity in the region.
This is a sturdy crop grown in a wide variety of temperate climatic conditions and planted annually.
The western regions represent dryland farming that depends on irrigation as a primary water source.
In all areas, sugar production is enhanced by technologies that allow the desugaring of molasses, which otherwise would be a relatively low-value byproduct.
[4] The largest region for sugar beet production is the Red River Valley of western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota.
Michigan, which is typically the third-largest sugar beet producer by planted area, has a similar production system, although relatively warmer temperatures mean the slicing season is more constrained to the late winter and early spring.
The federal government attempted to take antitrust action against the company, but was blocked by the Supreme Court's ruling in United States v. E. C. Knight Co. in 1895.