 The C & SF established 470 @,@ 000 acres ( 1 @,@ 900 km2 ) for the Everglades Agricultural Area — 27 percent of the Everglades before development . In the late 1920s , agricultural experiments indicated that adding large amounts of <unk> sulfate to Everglades muck produced profitable vegetable <unk> . Adding 100 pounds ( 45 kg ) of the compound was more cost effective than adding 1 short ton ( 0 @.@ 91 t ) of <unk> . The primary cash crop in the EAA is sugarcane , though sod , beans , <unk> , <unk> , and rice are also grown . Sugarcane became more consolidated an industry than did any other crop ; in 1940 the coalition of farms was renamed U.S. Sugar and this produced 86 percent of Everglades sugar . During the 1930s the sugarcane farmers ' coalition came under investigation for labor practices that bordered on slavery . Potential employees — primarily young black men — were lured from all over the U.S. by the promise of jobs , but they were held financially responsible for training , transportation , room and board and other costs . <unk> while debts were owed was punishable with jail time . By 1942 , U.S. Sugar was indicted for <unk> in federal court , though the charges were eventually dismissed on a <unk> . U.S. Sugar benefited significantly from the U.S. embargo on Cuban goods beginning in the early 1960s . In 1958 , before the Castro regime , 47 @,@ 000 acres ( 190 km2 ) of sugarcane were harvested in Florida ; by the 1964 – 1965 season , 228 @,@ 000 acres ( 920 km2 ) were harvested . From 1959 to 1962 the region went from two sugar mills to six , one of which in Belle Glade set several world records for sugar production . 
