hog operations drive demand in the livestock sector. In aquaculture, shrimp farms are the major consumer of soybean meal. Soybean production in the country has fallen in the past several years due to high production costs largely attributed to wage hikes. Farmers also complain of lower profitability compared with maize and off-season rice. Sugar Thailand's first sugar mill was built in 1938 in Lampang Province. , Thailand is the world's second-largest sugar exporter, after Brazil. The Office of Cane and Sugar Board (OCSB) forecasts that in the 2016–2017 crop year Thailand is expected produce 91-92 million tonnes of sugarcane, or 9.1-9.2 million tonnes of sugar, down by three million tonnes from the previous 2015–2016 harvest due to drought early in the growing season and excessive rain during the harvest season. In 2018, Thailand exported over 11 million tonnes of sugar, earning 115 billion baht in revenue. Governmental interventions In 2010 the Thai government initiated a program to encourage rice farmers to switch to growing sugarcane. The government's policy offered a 2,000 baht per rai subsidy for paddy fields converted to other crops. The government amended a law restricting the number of processing plants. Thailand's 54 sugarcane processing plants were then short of 100 million tonnes of raw cane to meet demand. A ready market for sugarcane and the falling price of rice made changing crops irresistible. As a result, sugarcane plantations in Thailand increased from 9.5 million rai to 12 million rai between 2013 and 2019. In 2018, the chairman of Mitr Phol, the world's fifth largest sugar producer, claimed that a one rai plot of sugar cane could result in up to 9,600 baht in farmer income compared with just 3,500 baht for one rai of rice. The government also subsidizes sugar cane production with a handout of 50 baht per tonne, up to 5,000 tonnes. The Industry Ministry's Office of Cane and Sugar Board has plans to increase the country's total sugarcane plantations to 16 million rai by 2026 (from 6.5 million rai in 2007–2008). The goal is to boost raw sugarcane output from 105.96 million tonnes in 2015 to 180 million tonnes by 2026, netting 20.4 million tonnes of refined sugar. The transition has not been without controversy, mainly due to undesirable environmental impacts such as air pollution and cane farmers use of between 1.5–2 liters of paraquat per rai of sugarcane, and sugarcane's voracious appetite for