São Paulo’s Cane Law Boosts Jobs and Income

In São Paulo, Brazil, a law prohibiting the burning of sugarcane fields reduced air pollution and unexpectedly spurred economic modernization. The 2002 law gradually banned pre-harvest burning—a practice that eased manual cutting but harmed worker health and contributed to greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers Francisco Costa, Luis Lima Filho, and Leticia Nunes analyzed 393 sugarcane-producing municipalities, comparing those that quickly adopted mechanical harvesting to those with terrain that slowed the transition between 2000 and 2010.

They found that the ban didn’t cause job losses but shifted employment from agriculture to industry. In municipalities with increased mechanization, agricultural employment fell roughly 2.8 percentage points, but industrial employment rose 3.4 percentage points—effectively offsetting the losses.

Employment in industries linked to sugarcane processing grew by 40%. Family income per capita in those areas increased almost 6% beyond expectations, and childhood labor decreased nearly 10%.

The study acknowledges that this success relies on a pre-existing agroindustrial chain capable of absorbing increased production and a market for alternative technologies. Further research will be needed to determine if these findings apply to other agricultural contexts.