[Image: Refinery]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. Sugar produced per harvested acre was 6,772 pounds, and sugar produced per total acre (including acres used for seed) was 6,298 pounds or about 5 percent lower than the yield reported in 1999. The gross farm value of $362,701,238, as reported in the crop production statistics, is 61 percent of the total value of the sugar and molasses produced, with the remaining 39 percent going to processing and marketing. (Photo by John Wozniak)