Some sugar cane farmers concerned after early freeze brought down harvest

By Austin Kemker

BATON ROUGE, La. - Farmers say an early freeze in November is to blame for lowing yields on an already light sugar cane crop this year. The freeze resulted in sugar cane beginning to ferment in the fields, essentially rotting.

"Some of the tops were cracked open. We’re seeing bacteria creep in and degrade the sugar at the very top end of the cane,” said Patrick Frischhertz, a sugar cane farmer in Plaquemine.