By Dr. Craig Gautreaux
LSU AgCenter
In a sugarcane field just outside of Cheneyville in Rapides Parish, Stacia Davis Conger and Justin Dufour are drilling, assembling and placing moisture sensors in the ground under stifling conditions.
Conger, AgCenter irrigation specialist, and Dufour, area ag agent for Avoyelles, Rapides and Grant parishes, have started a project looking at irrigation efficiency of sugarcane, a crop grown in areas that typically receive plenty of rainfall. While 70% of Louisiana’s corn crop is irrigated, less than 5% of the state’s 500,000 acres of sugarcane are.