It’s a Small, Sweet World
Dallas Ardoin
LSU Ag Leadership Class XVII
You always hear the phrase “It’s a small world,” but visiting a sugar mill over 1400 miles from home with close ties to our farm at home will truly make you believe that phrase.
Class XVII at the Cutris Ingenio sugar mill in San Carlos, Costa Rica. The visit was a vital connection for class members like Dallas Ardoin, who uses labor back home that comes from this company. Among the highlights of the visit were the company's comittment to sustainable agriculture and the innovative way they plant cane.
Today, our Ag Leadership class visited the Cutris Ingenio Sugar Mill in San Carlos, Costa Rica. The harvest group, through our mill, LASUCA, in St. Martinville, contracts labor through Cutris. I have gotten to know the guys over the last couple of years and they are incredible people, just like everyone we have been in contact with the previous ten days.
Class members got a look at the interior of the mill. Signs in Spanish aside, the mill bore striking similarities to the ones in Louisiana.
During our trip, we were told over and over that Costa Rican agribusiness and producers take sustainable agriculture very serious. Cutris practices sustainability by using its bagasse ash and “Cachaza” filter cake to produce organic fertilizer. They use the compost as a starter fertilizer when they are planting. They are also selling electricity from the bagasse to the surrounding town.
One of the innovations the class got to see was the way they use bagasse. This is ash from burning bagasse and it's mixed with "Cachaza" filter cake to produce organic fertilizer. The mill contributes more than just sugar--the bagasse burned here runs both the mill and provides power to the town.
My journey in the sugarcane business and Ag Leadership started around the same time. When we had our first seminar in January 2020. My family farm had just completed its first cane planting three months prior. Being new to the cane industry, I have learned so much in the field over the past three years, but Ag Leadership has taught me a lot as well. I have learned how vital agriculture is to our state, the global economy, and, most importantly, each of my classmates. It has indeed been a great experience that we have all enjoyed together.
Dallas Ardoin, top, examines some of the bagasse ash used to make organic fertilizer, along with (left to right) Thomas Dabbs, John David Guthrie and James Newton.
Being new to the cane industry, I know I still have a lot to learn, or as my grandfather would tell me, “when you’re farming, you learn something new every day.” No two years are the same and it seems every year brings new challenges. Now that I am coming to the end of this Ag Leadership journey, I find myself more confident to continue that journey. I hope to continue to learn about all aspects of agriculture like we have done throughout this class.
Randy Richard puts in a little elbow grease during the trip, planting cane in some of the surrounding fields next to the Cutris Ingenio mill. Unlike in the US, fewer sugarcane billets are planted and they're laid perpendicular to the row. According to the tour guide, Gexel, they've seen a 40 percent increase in yield from this method.
Since before I applied for Ag Leadership, I was told it’s not what you see or where you go, it’s the people you network with within your class. I genuinely believe that now. I’m happy to have met each of my classmates and gone through this with them. I know we all share the same sentiment that we would like to thank Dr. Soileau and the board for making this class as normal and enjoyable throughout all the challenges Covid brought upon us. It has been a great trip, but I am looking forward to some sticky rice and seeing my family. Thanks to my wife for holding down the fort at home and proofreading this blog.