NEW IBERIA, La (KLFY): The start of the October months marks the initiation of harvest season for sugarcane farmers across Acadiana.
Blair Hebert, county agent for the LSU Ag center said, тАЬItтАЩs a busy time of the year right now, we are at the end of September with next week being the beginning of October which in the cane growing area, around here in Acadiana the Teche area that means itтАЩs time for sugarcane harvest,тАЭ
As from July rain is delaying the entire process of the plantation of sugarcane crop just before its harvesting.
тАЬUnfortunately this year we are only about 80% complete, maybe in some other areas of the state we might even be a little bit less complete with the harvest so far so we have farmers who are still waiting on mother nature to get in the fields dry enough so we can finish planting,тАЭ Hebert said.
The weather hasnтАЩt been kind to this yearsтАЩ crop. These heavy rains followed a dry spell, making farmers witness a snow.
тАЬOlder farmers you talk to they said they lost a lot of Cain and had to plow it out late planted. I think now with these new varieties The development of culture see the cane can withstand a lot colder tolerance than it could back in the day.тАЭ Blanchard said.
Last yearтАЩs sugarcane production in Louisiana went up at 1.82 million tons. ItтАЩs too early to predict if this year will top that record, but Hebert says this crop is showing resilience. He says, тАЬOur folks over at USDA, our folks over with the American sugar league, and our folks at the LSU accentor at the research stations have been doing testing and have been monitoring the cane. ItтАЩs grown a lot since July 1 and we think we have good sugar content and we think weтАЩre going to have a good crop this year.тАЭ
