Varela Hermanos, S.A. officially kicked off the 2026 Sugar Cane Harvest season. This event, marking the company's 118-year history in agriculture and industry, is primarily concentrated in the Pesé district of Herrera province and will last approximately 100 days. For this season, the company projects a record-breaking processing volume of 102,000 tons of cane, the highest in its history. This increase is the result of incorporating 143 new hectares of planting in the La Concepción de Parita area, bringing the total operational area to 1,682 hectares. In addition to sugar processing, the harvest will generate about 31,600 tons of biomass, composed of bagasse and tops, which will be managed for use as an energy source. Luis J. Varela Jr., President and CEO of Varela Hermanos, highlighted that the company's vision is oriented towards turning every waste product into an opportunity for efficiency. Complementing the harvest, the company maintains its active reforestation program with over 26,000 trees planted and the collection of 130 tons of recyclable materials. These efforts are supported by the installation of 1,450 solar panels at its Juan Díaz plant in 2025, allowing 100% of the bottling process to run on clean energy and reducing CO2 emissions by 378 tons annually. Engineer José Javier Dopeso, Vice President of Operations, reported on the progress of installing a new boiler integrated with a modern biomass processing system, which will be fully operational for the next season. For this cycle, Varela Hermanos projects an economic injection of $3.5 million destined for salaries and benefits, translating into the generation of more than 300 direct and indirect jobs. The inaugural event maintained tradition with a mass in honor of Saint Isidore the Laborer at Hacienda San Isidro, uniting the team of collaborators before the start of fieldwork.
