Clewiston, FL – Mike Rowe’s How America Works pays tribute to some of the nation’s most vital industries while providing viewers a behind-the-scenes look at how these industries work and contribute to America’s infrastructure. Rowe’s enthusiasm for showcasing these professions often overlooked led him to Florida to dive into one of America’s sweetest industries: sugarcane farming and processing. To help show viewers how sugarcane is grown, harvested, and processed before the sweet stuff ends up on your table, U.S. Sugar welcomed Rowe’s film crew to spend a day in the life of our employees.
“Like many rural towns in America, Clewiston provides the muscle for ensuring staples of our food supply like sugar are affordably and widely available on store shelves, in restaurants and in some of the many favorite foods American families consume daily,” said Mike Rowe, Host of How America Works. “This episode will provide viewers with an up-close-and-personal look at the hard, and often times, complicated work that goes into producing your food every day.”
“In addition to growing fresh fruits and vegetables millions of Americans depend upon during the winter months every year, our employees are dedicated to sustainably providing sugar that is commonly used in a variety of food products,” said U.S. Sugar spokeswoman Judy Sanchez. “We’re excited at the opportunity to have Mike Rowe share our employees’ stories with a national audience.”
The episode on Florida sugarcane farmers will showcase some of the many challenges employees face on a daily basis as they help to sustainably grow, harvest, transport, mill, refine and ship cane sugar from Clewiston, Florida to customers around the country. The episode will additionally feature U.S. Sugar’s co-generation plant, which is powered by bagasse, or sugarcane fiber, and generates enough surplus electricity annually to power up to 25,000 homes in South Florida.
Five U.S. Sugar employees will be featured in the episode. These include Jay Baez Jr., production supervisor; Leonard Sampson, mill worker; Phillip Ford, roll welder; Billy Dyess, assistant refinery manager of operations; and Orlando Martinez, team leader. U.S. Sugar prides itself on its people and these five have been with U.S. Sugar, ranging from 10 to 31 years in the business.
The episode will air on Fox Business on Monday, June 13 at 8 p.m.