Monday marks the start of the first work week in the New Year — and for Acadiana's sugarcane farmers, it's a busy one.
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LSU Ag Center experts say the recent freezes were disruptive to the sugar cane industry. Sugar cane specialist Kenneth Gravois the crops now being harvested experienced what he calls a killing freeze.
“We’ve bred some cold tolerance into sugar cane but nothing that can withstand the 16, 17, you know mid-twenty-degree nights that we’ve had,” Gravois said.
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Avoyelles Parish is one of 11 parishes in Louisiana designated as disaster areas by the U.S. Department of Agriculture due to excessive rains in the second half of 2022.
The potential financial aid that farmers, especially local ones, can receive could be crucial for some families already anticipating a significant loss.
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For the better part of a decade, people in the drinks industry predicted—at times with breathless enthusiasm—that fresh cane spirits were poised to become the next big thing.
Olivia Stewart, president of Oxbow Estate Rum, recently added an agricole-style rum to the operation’s lineup. She hopes to create an A.O.C.-style designation for Louisiana sugarcane and spirits. The goal is not just to release notable cane spirits, she says, but to support the Louisiana sugarcane industry overall.
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A severe freeze is forecasted beginning on December 23, 2022, and for a series of nights afterwards. At the time of the December 23rd freeze, the industry will be about 83% harvested. All sugarcane remaining in the industry will be damaged to some extent. Every freeze event is different and forecasting the extent that harvest can be completed is impossible. Deterioration following a freeze is temperature dependent – higher temperatures will increase deterioration and lower temperatures will reduce deterioration.
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As sugar cane trucks line Lafourche Parish roads this month to gather the 2022 harvest, local farmers have something to celebrate – sugar cane crops this year may go down as being one of the best the state has ever seen.
According to industry trade group American Sugar Cane League, the state’s greatest harvest on record is considered to have been in 2016, when Louisiana sugar cane farmers produced about 251 pounds of sugar per gross ton of sugar cane.
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Louisiana cotton production and yields were both higher in November while sugarcane production and yield were both down.
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One of the reasons the American Sugar Cane League has been so successful in improving the sugarcane industry is its ability to collaborate.
We’ve partnered with several groups over the last 100 years. Among them are the United States Department of Agriculture, Louisiana State University AgCenter and the American Sugar Alliance but we’ve especially enjoyed a close relationship with the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation.
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Two centuries of sweet, sweet history make up Louisiana’s sugarcane industry. The American Sugar Alliance shares more about the industry’s resilience and success.
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When Wenceslaus “June” Provost Jr. comes out to the sugarcane field in New Iberia, Louisiana, the first thing he does is open up a window. Not a house window, but a window through the sugarcane field, an opening that he creates using a tractor.
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As you sit down with family and friends this Thanksgiving, you may not realize how key our nation’s Land-grant Universities are to making sure you have a bounty of food to enjoy. Since 1887, researchers at these public institutions have been conducting research to improve the nutrition and quality of the food we eat. Learn more about NIFA-funded research on foods that may be on your Thanksgiving menu.
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For most of the country, November is the month that agricultural activities are winding down and producers start planning for next year. It’s a time for reflection and thanksgiving.
But on this November 24 Thanksgiving Day, Louisiana’s sugarcane farmers and millers will be hard at work harvesting and milling cane into raw sugar. Yes, they’ll manage to squeeze in a hearty meal with their families, but sugarcane doesn’t recognize any holidays. Producers are under an unknown deadline to get the crop in before a potential killing freeze descends upon south Louisiana. A freeze, even a light freeze, can lessen sugar content.
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The Louisiana sugarcane belt has seen significant expansion during the past 10 years. Because of this growth, the LSU AgCenter has begun a research project aimed at developing varieties and answering questions growers have in the northern reaches of the cane-growing region. LSU AgCenter reporter Craig Gautreaux has this report from central Louisiana.
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The price of diesel is up again this month and according to experts and will likely continue to climb.
Right now, most of Louisiana’s harvest is already over. But sugar cane’s harvest won’t be done until around January. Catherine Floyd helps run a local Sugarmill and says more increases in diesel prices will make it even harder for business.
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This Halloween, Americans are estimated to spend a record $3 billion on Halloween candy for a second year in a row.
Despite the inflationary rise of candy prices, the sugar in it still only accounts for a couple cents per treat.
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