In a national survey of 2,000 registered voters, Morning Consult found strong support for the U.S. sugar industry and recognition that it is an important part of the American economy and food security. An overwhelming majority, 94% of surveyed voters, recognize the vital role farmers play in the economy, and 86% of surveyed voters support sugar policy in the Farm Bill.

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.

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.

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.

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.