It’s 7 p.m. in early December, and Lane Blanchard is just getting in from a long day in the cane fields. Like other growers, he has been cutting his cane since the first week of October. With grinding season nearly finished now, he and his crew at Lane Blanchard Farms in Loreauville will be working nonstop until the middle of January. It’s a life he and his wife Kristie, who is also an integral part of the business, have been at since 1983. Now with two grown sons helping, the Blanchard’s are an example of the family spirit and work ethic that bring success and longevity to the sugarcane industry.

Orders have been pouring into Andrew Schuman's candy cane business this year, but business has been anything but sweet.

"We're not taking new orders from new customers," said Schuman, chief executive officer of Hammond's, based in Denver, Colorado. "We can't keep up with demand."

Candy makers, like retailers and farmers, have been slammed during the pandemic with high commodity prices, labor shortages, and transportation and supply chain snarls, preventing them from fully cashing in on the holiday season.

In the wee hours of the morning, as his train rumbled through sugar cane fields in central Louisiana, Union Pacific Locomotive Engineer Cory Van Mol watched in disbelief as a farm tractor failed to yield at a private crossing.

The tractor made it across, but Van Mol didn’t let the close call end there. He wanted to do something to try to prevent more close calls or potential tragedies during the sugar cane harvest in Louisiana.