Talk:Sugarcane

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I plant in California where the molasses is crystallized to table sugar. I think the article on molasses could be tweaked a bit. I put molasses in because that is what Hawaii exports, but the sentence simply says "agricultural products," so I guess sugar cane is what is produced - Marshman 00:46, 19 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I see what you mean. THe molasses article clearly implies that sugar and molasses are different products from the cane. I'm not sure that is true. I always thought the cane sugar was converted by rendering down (boiling) the juice to molasses. Hawaii produces NO table sugar and never has, so that sequence makes sense to me; not the way it is stated under molasses, which would lead to two products - Marshman 00:53, 19 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I looked up molasses in a disctionary and it describes it as a juice separated from raw sugar. Guess I stand corrected - Also from "Grandma's molasses: In manufacturing raw sugar, after the cane has been harvested and mashed, the raw juices are boiled to extract sugar. To produce table sugar, the manufacturer will further process raw sugar into refined sugar. The remaining syrup - after the sugar has been crystallized - is called first molasses. Grandma's Robust Molasses (Green Label) is a blend of first molasses. First molasses, a thick brown syrup, is then thinned with water and re-boiled so that more raw sugar can be extracted. Marshman

Contents

[edit] Title

I've never seen this spelt as a single word before, always as 'sugar cane'; is this a U.S./U.K. thing, or something else? Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 12:11, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)

No-one has responded to my question, and I note that the discussion above uses the form 'sugar cane'. Unless anyone objects, I'll move the article to Sugar cane, and edit the text accordingly. Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 22:00, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)


You need to get out more, Mel. Pay attention to the world around you.
  • Google sugarcane 809,000 hits, many of them in professional journals and industry websites.
  • Google "sugar cane" 707,000 hits
Both are correct; the trend is increasingly towards one word. I don't care which is used for the title. Just put sugar cane or sugarcane in the opening paragraph, and help out everyone who might be searching for information about this. Gene Nygaard 23:11, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Hmmm, if you think that Google is the world around us, I think that it's you who should get out more...

Anyway, I don't want to change anything that has two standard uses, even though I've never come across one of them. Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 09:53, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I would just check in the dictionary... I think I need to get out more. @@ i want to know how sugarcane be harvested with help of Self propelled harvestor? pls let me know detais of it

[edit] Energy Conversion Efficiency

Now to some substantive discussion.

The article states, under "Cultivation" -

"Sugarcane cultivation requires a tropical or subtropical climate, with a minimum of 600 mm (24 in) of annual moisture. It is one of the most efficient photosynthesizers in the plant kingdom, able to convert up to 2 percent of incident solar energy into biomass[citation needed]".

How is the above "2% of incident solar energy" calculated -- and precisely what does it mean ? How does this figure compare with, say, corn (maize) or Photovoltaic Converters (PVs or Solar Cells).

Stop to think : It is the ANNUAL AVERAGE conversion which counts. The bulk of the energy conversion in sugar cane or corn occurs during a relatively short "growing season", while PVs are continuously active for the entire year, and to a high and steady degree in the tropics. 208.63.239.166 15:28, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Environmental aspects

I was wondering if we should perhaps add something to the article about the environmental effects of sugarcane production. I was recently in Hawaii, and was surprised by the methods that they used to harvest the sugarcane. The fire not only burns the sugarcane and venomous snakes, but also the plastic used to line the field (to prevent weeds). I just wanted to bring that to your attention. Thanks, Shmooshkums (talk) 00:22, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Is that right?

I noticed that in the opening paragraph below the table of contents, it says that 200 countries produce sugarcane. Now there aren't 200 countries so to speak, and many are too far north or south to produce sugar cane. Or am I missing something? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.203.68.30 (talk) 02:24, 10 May 2008 (UTC)