The sugarcane harvest season recently ended as this year's intake was heavily impacted by the recent drought, but there is some hope on the horizon.

LOUISIANA (KLFY) -- The sugarcane harvest season recently ended as this year's intake was heavily impacted by the recent drought, but there is some hope on the horizon.

Stuart Gauthier with the LSU AG Center hopes this year's harvest will be a rebound from the previous one.

"We're hopeful if we can go into this year and get the crop growing good, it's definitely would bode well if the prices can stay up like they are now," Gauthier said.

According to Gauthier, some Acadiana parishes noticed up to a 25 to 50 percent drop in yield production compared to their average intake. The drop in production can be directly related to the recent drought Louisiana went through going into the end of the year harvest. Gauthier says the crop was planted in the middle of the drought which causes some concern for the 2024 crop.

"It was just so dry and so hot when we were planting back in September (and) October that sometimes when you plant cane under those stressful conditions, you can have issues the next year with that that crop getting a good stance," said Gauthier.

Kenneth Gravois is a sugarcane specialist with the AG Center. He says they have seen low results in the past do a complete 180 the following year, but it may be too early to know what is to come until later.

"A 15-ton-crop can make a 30 ton crop the next year. There's going to be a few acres that where the stalks will have dried out and there's just not going to be an adequate stand," Gravois said. "We'll have to replant a few of those acres that that number we really don't have a good handle on."

Although it may be too early to tell, hopes are still high for this year's crop to be a significant increase from last year's, depending on weather conditions.

Latest Posts