Sugar cane harvest

Sugar cane

Sugar cane harvest in Mata Sul, state of Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. Sugar cane dominates the landscape of the so-called Mata Norte and Mata Sul (North Forest and Sul Forest), areas which traditionally were overgrown by the Transatlantic Rainforest and, over the past centuries and decades, have become completely dominated by sugar cane plantations. Sugar cane production in the area has a long tradition of aggressive expansion and slave labour and to this day, echoes of its past influence the present. In the past years I have visited the area repeatedly to learn about the ecological and social impact of the sugar cane production and the relationship traditional local populations have with their job and the farms they work on.

Sugar cane

Worker cutting the sugar cane stems.

Sugar cane

The sugar cane fields after the harvest.