Heavy rains hindering cane harvest

The pounding, all-day rain that hit the Acadiana area early this week is creating a problem for sugar farmers and refiners.
Muck is the most obvious issue now, but as Mike Comb of the LaSuCa at St. John mill told the Teche News, the timing of this downpour was not good. Comb said that when the cane is knocked down this late in the growing season, it will probably be able to curl upward enough to harvest, but the yield will suffer. He said that as much as 60 percent of the crop is down in some areas.
The yield was running about average in early grinding, in the 240-pounds-per-ton range. More recently, results have dropped closer to the 200-pound level. Comb said that the cane was unusually tall, but dry weather probably limited the yield to well below the “bumper crop” level of recent years.
Damage from this week’s rain, Comb said, will largely depend on what the weather does next. Conditions for the rest of the harvest season will be critical for producers.