11-10-2008, 03:05 PM
Actually in most instances cane grows at a much faster rate than that. Hamakua Sugar would harvest in 9-10 month cycles for the fields at lower elevations that got irrigated, and 16-18 months for the fields up higher. The burning went on almost continuously, since it's one patch at a time, and yes each patch got burnt only once per growing cycle, but there were a lot of patches. Miles and miles of them. And besides the smoke, all herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers were spread aerially. It was an environmental nightmare for some.