Thailand's Office of the Cane and Sugar Board is launching a 6-billion-baht state loan programme (2025–2027) to help sugar cane farmers upgrade to modern machinery and harvesting methods. The initiative aims to reduce production costs, ease labour shortages, and cut PM2.5 pollution by 3.8% by incentivizing fresh-cane harvesting over field burning. Recent mechanized harvesters can cut 15–30 tonnes per hour, addressing both environmental and productivity challenges in the sector. Global sugar prices are expected to rise to around 17 cents per pound in 2027 amid drought-driven supply constraints in Brazil and India.