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ON THE COVER
Kenneth Gravois is resident director of the Sugar Research Station at St. Gabriel, La., where the sugarcane breeding research is conducted. |
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| [Image: Cane Burn]Prescribed Burns Help the Sugarcane Industry and Reduce Smoke and Ash Problems The ability of farmers to burn sugarcane is a significant economic factor for the state’s sugarcane industry. Burning of sugarcane before harvest eliminates from 30 percent to 50 percent of the leafy trash (residue), which constitutes from 20 percent to 25 percent of the total weight of the plant. |
| [Image: Crossing House]New Sugarcane Varieties Pay Bid Dividends New sugarcane varieties are the lifeblood of the Louisiana sugar industry. In fact, the high and the low points of the Louisiana sugar industry closely parallel those of sugarcane variety development. The first sugarcane varieties grown in Louisiana were of foreign origin. Introduced varieties were typically renamed and included “Creole,” from which Etienne De Bore first granulated sugar, “Otaheite,” and later “Louisiana Striped” and “Louisiana Purple.” |
| Audubon Sugar Institute: Poised to Continue Its Proud Tradition In 1887, a group of sugarcane growers known as the Louisiana Planters Association set up a research facility in Audubon Park in New Orleans so they could learn more about the granulation process. This was the beginning of the Audubon Sugar Institute. C.W. Stubbs, a professor of agriculture, became the first director of the station. A classroom building in the LSU Quadrangle is named in his honor. |
| [Image: Organic Fertilizer]Fertility Research Helps Optimize Sugarcane Profits Soil fertility and plant nutrition research are important components of the LSU AgCenter’s sugarcane research efforts. With tight economic conditions and increasing concern for the environment, it is important that the nutritional needs of sugarcane be met without applying excess nutrients. To meet this challenge, the LSU AgCenter maintains a rigorous program for examining the nutritional needs of the recommended sugarcane varieties on the major soil groups where sugarcane is grown. |
| [Image: Unload]Louisiana’s Sugarcane Industry Sugarcane has been an integral part of the South Louisiana economy and culture for more than 200 years. When the Jesuit priests first brought sugarcane to Louisiana in 1751, little did they know that they were laying the foundation for an industry that now contributes $2 billion to the Louisiana economy. In the last century, research advances in both production and processing have kept Louisiana’s sugar industry competitive. |
| [Image: Fallow in Soybeans]Fallow Period Cropping to Soybeans Can Provide Benefits Only a small percentage of the more than 75,000 acres of sugarcane fallow land in Louisiana is planted annually to rotational crops. Most sugarcane growers traditionally have used the fallow period for three purposes: to control troublesome weeds like johnsongrass, itchgrass and bermudagrass; to reform the land to facilitate drainage; and to rejuvenate the soil. |
| [Image: Layby]Weed Control: Essential to Sugarcane Production Weeds are a major factor limiting production of sugarcane in Louisiana. The battle for water, light, nutrients and space between weeds and the crop can reduce sugarcane stalk population and yield. Sugarcane differs from other crops in that at least three harvests, and in some cases four to five harvests, are made from a single planting. |
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| Scientists Use Precision Farming to Monitor Sugarcane Yields One important application of precision farming is yield mapping. Yield maps provide site-specific information that can aid in managing fertilizer and pesticide rates. Yield maps consist of two variables, the crop spot yield (pounds) and the position (longitude, latitude) of that yield in the field. |
| [Image: Refinery]St. James Sugar Mill This is the sugar mill at St. James, one of 17 in the state. According to the LSU AgCenter’s Agricultural Summary for 2000, sugarcane was grown on 491,994 acres, which was a new record for the Louisiana sugar industry. An estimated 457,554 acres were harvested for sugar, with a total production of 1,549,198 tons of sugar. |
| [Image: Field Day]Partners in Research The comprehensive research program in sugarcane at the LSU AgCenter results from cooperative relationships with many organizations and institutions. Two prominent cooperators in Louisiana are the American Sugar Cane League, headquartered in Thibodaux, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service’s Sugarcane Research Unit in Houma. |
| [Image: Freddie Martin]Sugarcane: An Important Industry Facing Many Challenges The Louisiana sugar industry, with its long history and rich tradition, is a vital component of the unique culture of South Louisiana. The industry, which celebrated its bicentennial in 1995, is made up of nearly 700 family farms that produced more than 1.5 million tons of sugar from 460,000 acres of sugarcane in 2000. The economic activity resulting from the production of sugarcane and its processing into sugar in Louisiana is estimated to be more than $2 billion per year. |
| [Image: Cane Pathogen]Controlling Disease A sugarcane variety begins as a single seedling. Stalks from that initial plant are then cut and planted, and the buds along the stalks germinate and grow to produce new plants. This increase through cutting and planting of stalks, or “seedcane,” continues until the variety may be grown in many fields across the state. |
| [Image: 1942 Harvester]Planting Sugarcane: Whole Stalks Versus Billets Mechanization of harvest was a major turning point in Louisiana sugarcane production. Harvesters were developed that would cut whole stalks of sugarcane and drop them across rows. Within the past five years, however, another major change has occurred in the sugarcane harvesting system used in Louisiana. Sugarcane is now harvested with what are known as “chopper” or “combine” harvesters. |
| [Image: Cane Mound]Resistance of Louisiana Sugarcane to Deterioration from Freezing Temperatures Exposure of sugarcane to damaging frosts occurs in about a fourth of the sugarcane-producing countries but is most frequent in the United States, particularly in Louisiana. Here, winter freezes have forced the industry to adapt to a short growing season (about nine months) and a short milling season (about three months), although in recent years the milling season has been extended to about four months. |
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| [Image: Production Areas]Louisiana Sugarcane Production Areas Sugarcane sweetens the Louisiana economy with about a $2 billion contribution each year. That’s the result of the efforts of about 750 producers in 23 parishes (in blue) growing sugarcane on more than 450,000 acres. There are 17 sugar mills in Louisiana and two refineries—one in Gramercy and the other in Chalmette. Louisiana produces about 16 percent of the total sugar grown in the United States (includes both beet and sugarcane sugar). |
| [Image: Table 1]Sugarcane Producers and Best Management Practices: Attitudes and Influences Louisiana is following a voluntary approach to managing potential nonpoint-source pollution from agriculture. This strategy focuses on education as the means to increase the adoption of best management practices (BMPs), which are those agricultural practices designed to preserve, conserve and even improve the natural environment. |
| Sugar Product May Substitute for Antibiotic in Animal Feed A product made from Louisiana sugar that may help reduce the incidence of poultry-borne food poisoning, as well as help slow the emergence of drug-resistant pathogens, is under investigation at the Audubon Sugar Institute. |
| [Image: Lenn Goudeau]Audubon Sugar Institute: Addressing Processing Research Needs Research into sugar processing has taken place at Audubon Sugar Institute (ASI) for more than 100 years, helping the Louisiana industry improve its efficiency and lower its cost of production. There have been many changes at Audubon Sugar Institute, but in the past few years, both the sugar industry and the research environment have changed significantly |
| [Image: Mechanical Planting]Economic Analyses Help Sugarcane Growers’ Bottom Line The production of sugarcane in Louisiana is much more complex, from a farm management perspective, than the production of other major crops such as cotton, soybeans or rice. Although some production decisions are similar, others are unique to sugarcane in part because of the perennial nature of the crop. Unlike annual crops such as cotton or soybeans, which are planted from seed and harvested each year, sugarcane is planted vegetatively and harvested over several years. |
| Value of Nontarget Organisms Studying the impact on nontarget organisms, especially insects that are not pests of sugarcane, is an important part of insecticide evaluation. This includes the effects on other insects from sprays to control the sugarcane borer and soil insecticides for wireworm control. |
| [Image: 150 Varieties]Crossing House Gallery of images from "New Sugarcane Varieties Pay Big Dividens." Crossing house at the AgCenter's Sugar Research Station at St. Gabriel, La. |
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| Mexican Rice Borer Threat The Mexican rice borer was introduced in 1980 from Mexico into the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where it soon became a serious pest of sugarcane. In 1987, the Mexican rice borer was detected in Jackson and Victoria counties of the Texas Rice Belt. In 2000, LSU AgCenter and Texas A&M scientists cooperated in setting out pheromone traps to determine the Mexican rice borer spread since 1987. |
| Integrated Pest Management in Sugarcane Integrated pest management (IPM) has two distinctive components—economic protection from pest damage and a more favorable environmental outcome than would occur in the absence of IPM. Integrated pest management is a dynamic process and involves balance among biological, cultural and chemical measures deemed most appropriate to a particular situation after careful study of all factors involved. |
| Herbicide Losses in Surface Runoff Minimizing the levels of herbicides in surface water and groundwater is of major concern nationally and within the agricultural community. Little work has been carried out on correlating application of herbicides used in sugarcane production with water quality impairment. Moreover, a Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) report from 1990 indicated that most water bodies in Louisiana are impaired to some degree. |
| Louisiana Agriculture Magazine Fall 2001 Vol. 44, No. 4 Sugarcane |
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