Photo courtesy of the LSU Ag Center/Derek Albert. Melancon Farms in St Martin Parish
There’s cautious optimism as the sugarcane harvest ramps up in south Louisiana. LSU AgCenter sugarcane specialist Kenneth Gravois says the harvest is getting off to a soggy start as many fields are muddy as a result of a wet 2021.
“That never bodes well for sugar recovery, but as the skies turn blue the sugar recoveries start increasing again and we’ve seen that so we need a good spell of dry weather to get some of our worst fields out,” said Gravois.
2020 was a stellar year for the industry as the American Sugar Cane League estimates 463-thousand acres of cane were harvested, with an average of 85-hundred pounds of sugar produced per acre. Gravois expects the tonnage will be off this year because of a damp growing season.
“You tend to have smaller stalks so our tonnage’s out of the field especially early on in the crop are not great, but there are encouraging reports here and there on the tonnage,” said Gravois.
Cooler and drier weather will enter the Bayou State this weekend and Gravois says it comes at a good time as there’s still a good chance for producers to make money off this crop.
“I don’t think anybody will turn down a cool spell in the middle of October,” said Gravois. “The sunshine will really help this cane mature.”
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