AGRICULTURE, TECHNOLOGY& EQUIPMENT:

THE CONNECTED FARM

Robert H. Buker, Jr. President and CEO

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U.S. SUGAR CORPORATION-- ASSETS

• 193,000 acres– 173,000 acres sugar– 20,000 acres citrus

• North America’s most efficient sugar milling operation– 38,000-42,000 ton per day mill built in October, 2007

• 1 integrated refinery with packaging: 15 million cwt. capacity• Railroad operations

– 278 miles of track– 28 locomotives– 1138 railcars

• 1 citrus factory: 21 million box capacity• Citrus nursery—North Central Florida• NFC aseptic storage: 52 million gallons• Total 1600 employees

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LAND ASSETS—200 SQ. MILESSPREAD ACROSS 5 COUNTIES

Each block is one square mile

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PRODUCTION

• 140,000 sugar acres harvested annually• 7 million tons sugarcane produced• 700,000 tons of sugar produced• 1.95 million tons bagasse (cane biomass)

produced to run raw factory/refinery• 30-35 million gallons molasses produced• Three million boxes of oranges grown• 120 million gallons of 100% pure, premium Florida

orange juice

BUILT STATE-OF-THE-ART SUGAR FACTORY IN 2007

• New facility is the lowest cost sugar producer in US & Mexico

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CURRENT CHALLENGES

• Farming operations account for 2/3 of our cost • We must farm cheaper than Mexican sugar

producers – NAFTA opened borders in 2008• Price of sugar dropped 50% over last two years

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RESULTS OF NAFTA

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AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS—OUR HORIZONTAL FACTORY• Farming 173,000 acres of sugarcane

across 5 counties• >2500 pieces of equipment• 1 supervisor for 10,000 acres• Plenty of data—we needed to

leverage it better

THE BURNING PLATFORM

• Commodity business– Sugar pricing dropped 50%

• High crop input costs– Don’t expect relief from crop input

pricing• Cane production is the driver

– Outweighs cost reduction in the unit cost equation

• Budget cuts put crop production at great risk

• We have the best people……but not the best tools

• There is no silver bullet……we need a lot of bronze bullets

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BE THE BESTAT WHAT WE CAN CONTROL

Weather and Sugar Price (Can’t Control)

Key Cost Inputs (Labor, Equipment, Crop Inputs, Fuel)

Planning Execution

Optimal Economic

Cane Production

Can’t Control Maximize ROI (Precision, Quality, Efficiency, etc.)

Input Prices Input Volume

Operational Excellence

Operational Excellence

OPx

OPx

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FIELD TECHNOLOGY HAS CHANGED THE WAY WE OPERATE

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• Provides “virtual supervisor” reports on tractor location & movement

• Green Seeker—only sprays fertilizer & insecticide on plants

• Reduces spray rate variation• Precision guidance of tractors & implements

results in 18% reduction in passes through field • Savings in fuel, chemicals, labor

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE WILL CHANGE THE WAY WE OPERATE• Field technology is important,

but a distant second to business intelligence and information management

– Crop models– Operational planning and

execution– Utilization, productivity, and

efficiency– Analytical tools– Reporting and visualization

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IMPROVED EXECUTION = INCREASED TONS

• Correct implement

• Chemical cultivation

• Mechanical cultivation

• Not too early

• Not too late

• Correct settings

• Correct speed

• Correct pH

Right Thing Right Time Right Way

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TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

Partnered with Trimble (Leader in Ag technology markets)• Large scale application of technology• RTK (Real Time Kinematic positioning--improves

accuracy to one inch levels)• Autopilot• Flow control (precise chemical applications)• Field IQ (crop control input system)• Data Communication (DCM wireless data transfer)

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• Established the largest, contiguous Wi-Fi Network in the world across 173,000 acres of sugarcane fields

– To capture and direct information from our farming operations• Hardware (i.e. existing products)

– Immediate improvement of field operations• Decision support tools

– Better understanding of actual performance vs. plan• Productivity, efficiency, timing, etc.

– Better understanding of cause and effect relationships that impact cane production

• Software solutions– Reports– Tools to visualize data and information– Integration with other data sources

THE CONNECTED FARM

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TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS

• Management system improvements

• Increased cane production• Lower cost• Improved equipment reliability• Improved operator

performance• Increased safety and security

Expected Benefits are $34M on a sustainable basis

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Overlap Reduction - Disking

AutoPilot3 passes – 72 ft

Manual3 passes – 60 ft

20% increase

ROI based on 15%by year 3

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Spray & Finish Improvements

• Field technology (AutoPilot, Field IQ, etc.) is delivering both expected and unexpected benefits

Better quality plow “finish” leads to less subsequent

passes

Spray rate variation was much greater than we anticipated

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Connected Farm

Initial Focus• Increase

productivity and efficiency

• Drive out operational delays

2013 Benefits

• Spray (Herbicide) Program– $15/acre or $2.0M below baseline

• Land Prep (Planting)– 15% reduction of hours per planted acre (>6,000

hours)– >$700,000 potential impact

• Fuel Use Reduction– Identified opportunities to reduce tractor fuel burn

rates• Optimize gear selection and rpm

– ~1 gal/hr reduction or ~$500K annually

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CLOSING

“As a military helicopter pilot, outdated equipment and information can result in immediate and often fatal consequences.

As a business, outdated equipment and information can result in a slower and less dramatic fatality, but dead is still dead and your competitors will dance on your grave.”

Robert H. Buker, Jr.

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