Farmers warned of potential diseases in next sugarcane crop
By Ashley Joseph, KPLC
LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - We don’t hear much about this cash crop anymore, but it still plays a big part in the agricultural landscape of Louisiana.
The Louisiana sugarcane industry by itself is worth 3 billion dollars and generates an estimated 16,000 jobs, according to the USDA. However, a sparse winter could be setting up the next sugarcane crop for diseases.
Jimmy Meaux, a Calcasieu agent for the LSU Ag Center, said this is becoming a harsh reality for a number of Louisiana crops.
“We have some of the same issues even in other instances where diseases manifest themselves and get resistant to certain chemicals," said Meaux. “We’re always trying to find different ways of keeping that resistance at bay.”
Farming is a big industry across Louisiana and the nation. Meaux says with anything farming-related, mother nature plays a big factor and in this case, it’s no different.
“One of the main diseases that they discuss with sugarcane farmers is rust, if you get too much of it on there the plants don’t produce enough chlorophyll and don’t grow well," said Meaux. “It was really a mild December and January and we had a few cold snaps in February but not enough to slow down the rust from what farmers expect.”
Jeff Hoy, a resident coordinator of the AgCenter Sugar Research Station, said the freeze in November probably was not severe enough to control brown rust disease. “We’re probably tracking to another rust year,” he said.