Research Brief: Why Does "New Ground" Produce Higher Sugarcane Yields?

By Lisa Fultz, Adam Bigott and Jeff Hoy LSU AgCenter

In Louisiana, sugarcane has been grown on some of the same soils for more than 200 years. Yield decline, a phenomenon wherein long-term sugarcane cropping produces decreased yields compared with fields recently converted for sugarcane cultivation (what the farmers call “new ground”), has been documented in multiple regions.