15 NOVEMBER 2005 - FRANKLIN, LA: A worker on Jesse Breaux' sugar cane farm burns a field after the cane was cut from the field during the 2005 sugar cane harvest. The fields are burned to remove the shuck and trash left from the cane cutting. Louisiana is one of the leading sugar cane producing states in the US and the economy in southern Louisiana, especially St. Mary and Iberia Parishes, is built around the cultivation of sugar. Statewide, more than 460,000 acres of land is cultivated with sugar cane and more than 27,000 people work in the sugar industry in Louisiana. Sugar growers in the area are concerned that trade officials will eliminate sugar price supports during upcoming trade talks for the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). They say elimination of price supports will devastate sugar growers in the US and the local economies of sugar growing areas. They also say it will ultimately lead to higher sugar prices for US consumers.  PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ
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