In a forthcoming issue of Tree Physiology, Paul Schaberg, a researcher working for the United States Department of Agriculture in Vermont, and his colleagues, will report the results of their experiments with sugar maples.

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According to a JP Morgan report, commodities like corn, coffee, cotton and sugar are at their lowest stock-to-use ratios in decades.

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This has been avoided, the report says, in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo where sugar cane farmers are obliged to leave a percentage of their land as natural reserves.

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"Sugar cane was the single hardest hit followed by plantain and bananas, " the report says.

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While the report makes a raft of recommendations, Prof Stephenson attacked sugary drinks for being "just water and sugar" and lambasted a culture where it was deemed acceptable to drink a litre of fizzy drink at the cinema.

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