Domingues Farms has come a long, long way from the days of “Brodie and Mitchell.”
Reista Domingues used to hitch up mules so they could do the heavy lifting, er, heavy pulling, soon after his sugar cane farm was established in 1919.
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U.S. sugar output in the new season starting in October will be less than previously projected due to a widespread drought in Louisiana, the No. 1 producing state, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Tuesday.
The USDA slashed its projection for Louisiana in 2023/24 by 18% to only 1.68 million short tons (ST).
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Louisiana’s sugar cane farmers and millers found it hard to take George Will’s “Sugar protectionism may sour holidays” column seriously.
Will invokes a scary image of candy rationing for American trick-or-treaters and Christmas angels. In Will’s world, candy makers believe the Grinch is hardworking sugar cane farmers and Congressional members who have steadfastly kept the Farm Bill safety net strong for United States agricultural production.
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Hugh Andre can’t get enough of the smell of the dirt.
As a first generation farmer, Andre loves what he does. And he does it each and every day he can.
Andre is from Iberia parish. He went to school at Catholic High and began farming in 1998 where he started with 75 acres of land and built it to 8,000 acres that is today.
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As the Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival enters its 80th year of entertaining Teche Area residents, organizers are trying to consolidate the festival more into downtown New Iberia.
For Louisiana Sugar Cane Association President Lisa Norris, the effort is an attempt to bring the festival back to its roots. For years the festival has been spread out in various parts of the parish and bringing more events to the Main Street area.
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Eddie Lewis III pulls up to his Youngsville farm in a large black Ford pickup truck, handing out gallon containers of water to his workers preparing land to plant the 2024 sugar cane crop. He’s surrounded by sugar cane, and because of a prolonged drought in Louisiana, the typically fully green stalks are beginning to yellow, a dying process that isn't supposed to happen until December.
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The American Sugarcane League is helping students in Iberia Parish tour and explore Louisiana's culture at The Bayou Teche Museum.
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It has been a hard year of extreme heat and drought for sugar cane farmers, which has affected crops and harvests.
"To say a field of sugarcane will not be harvested because of height has hardly ever been heard of even in drought years in the back. You have a loss but the fields were harvested, it's so bad right now," says Jim Domingues.
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James “Jim” Simon of New Iberia was honored as the recipient of the Kermit Coulon Sr. Outstanding Service Award at the 62nd St. James Appreciation Supper held in Vacherie at the Westbank Reception Hall July 27.
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When you think about harvesting crops in Louisiana, you think about things like corn, sugarcane, and soybeans. And with the record-breaking summer heat, each of these crops are having a tougher time growing than in years past.
As the chairman of the Louisiana Beef Industry, John Thompson says he’s never seen his farmland as dry as it is in his 66 years. According to the Dept. of Agriculture and Forestry, the amount of money we’ve lost in the cattle industry is between $160 -- 260 million.
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Chad Hanks can sum up this sugarcane growing season rather succinctly.
“Unprecedented,” Hanks said as he stood in a sugarcane field in Lafayette Parish.
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Droughts are an unusual problem in Louisiana where folks are accustomed to afternoon showers. For farmers, the drought can be harmful to crops is desperate need of water.
Stephen Simoneaux is a sugarcane farmer in Belle Rose. He says the dry weather is concerning, and even though rainfall is usually a daily occurrence in the summer time, he says the drought shouldn't necessarily mean trouble for the crop yield statewide.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) announced today that it does not expect to purchase and sell sugar under the Feedstock Flexibility Program for crop year 2022, which runs from Oct. 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2023.
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Just north of Port Allen, the relentless drought and scorching temperatures are putting local farmers to the test. Heath Morris, a sugarcane and soybean farmer, is one of those determined souls engaged in a battle with Mother Nature yet again.
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It was just over two years ago when Jeanerette, Louisiana-based Delta Biofuel and Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that Iberia Parish was under consideration for the site of a first-of-its kind, $70 million renewable fuel plant utilizing bagasse, a byproduct of sugar manufacturing. for fuel pellet production. This past July, the project—which was able to overcome challenges that included inflated project costs—finally broke ground.
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