National sugar leaders to speak at League meeting

Two nationally recognized sugar leaders will be the featured speakers at the annual meeting of the American Sugar Cane League on February 4 at L’Auberge Hotel and Casino in Baton Rouge.

Courtney Gaine, president of the Sugar Association and economist Jack Roney of the American Sugar Alliance will speak on issues affecting the Louisiana sugarcane industry.

Dr. Gaine is the chief executive officer of the Washington-based Sugar Association, the sugar industry’s voice on all nutritional science issues. In a recent conference call with sugar industry communications specialists, Dr. Gaine said only 31 percent of the American consumers understand that sugar comes from a plant. With sugar’s role in nutrition under constant public scrutiny and dozens of so-called food gurus making outrageous claims about the commodity, Dr. Gaine must deal with a lot of misinformation about sugar.

Jack Roney has visited Louisiana many times and is very knowledgeable about Louisiana’s cane industry. He has been the director of economics and policy analysis of the American Sugar Alliance, the national coalition of growers, processors, and refiners of sugarbeets and sugarcane since 1996.  The Sugar Alliance represents the sugar industry in the domestic and trade political arena.

Roney has testified at numerous congressional and executive branch hearings, spoken at countless international conferences, and appeared frequently on television and radio programs on behalf of American sugar producers.

The speakers are scheduled for 10:15 a.m. The League’s meeting is held in conjunction with the semi-annual meeting of the American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists. The ASSCT meeting features a number of scientific presentations and concludes on Feb. 5.