Sugarcane is a tropical, perennial grass that forms lateral shoots at the base to produce multiple stems, typically 3 to 4 meters (9 feet 10 inches to 13 feet 1 inch) high and about 2 inches in diameter. The stems grow into cane stalk, which when mature constitutes approximately 75% of the entire plant. The average yield of cane stalk is 60–70 tonnes per hectare (24–28 long ton/acre; 27–31 short ton/acre) per year.

Sugarcane is a giant, robust, sugary plant produced by interbreeding four species of the Saccharum genus. Over 62% of the world's sugar comes from sugarcane. Currently, sugarcane is planted on approximately 440,000 acres in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), making it the most extensively grown row crop in Florida. Production is primarily on land along or near the southern half of Lake Okeechobee. About 80% of the sugarcane crop is grown on high organic matter muck soils and 20% is grown on sand. Roughly 50% of the sugarcane produced in the U.S. comes from Florida, which accounts for about 20% of all sugar consumed (cane and beet) in the country.

For more information see: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/sc032