AGRICULTURE & OPERATIONS

Large-scale, vertically integrated cane production

Central Romana runs its own agricultural research program, dating to 1947, when the company began developing local growing capacity rather than relying on imported agricultural products from Puerto Rico and Barbados. That research effort has since produced more than 15 sugarcane varieties for commercial use. Each variety takes 12 to 15 years to develop and the company says roughly 95% of its planted area now uses varieties it has patented itself. It maintains a breeding collection of some 2,600 different parent cane specimens for future development.

The operation is heavily mechanized: the company reports roughly 50% of cutting and hauling was mechanized as of its most recent published figures, with a stated goal of 75%. Its equipment fleet includes around 250 rubber-wheeled tractors, 35 crawler tractors, and 47 combine harvesting units, alongside roughly 1,800 ox-drawn carts still used in areas unsuited to heavy machinery. A private, 354-kilometer standard-gauge railway network moves up to 22,000 tons of freshly cut cane to the mill each day during harvest.

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Central Romana also operates a large livestock division, raising more than 55,000 head of cattle, including its own proprietary Red Roman breed plus roughly 3,000 horses, dairy buffalo, and hogs used in meat and mozzarella production.