New statewide safety rules about prescribed burns include more restrictions on burning fields of sugarcane, a common practice during the growing season.
“This was a promise that I made to the people of the state of Florida that we were going to be bold. We were going to come in, we were going to look at changes,” Fried said during a news conference Tuesday at the Capitol. “We have definitely made sure that we have checked in with the industry, as we do with any other types of changes in regulatory oversight for any industry and commodity. They know that this was coming, and so they’ll adapt.”
Clewiston-based U.S. Sugar, the largest producer of sugarcane in the state, gave its support to the changes Tuesday.