Sugarcane Industry Still Expecting Positive Harvest Despite Barry

The state’s sugarcane crop appears to be on track for another successful harvest, despite the impact of Hurricane Barry that delivered anywhere from three to fourteen inches of rain to areas across the sugarcane belt. LSU AgCenter sugarcane specialist Kenneth Gravois says despite the gloomy forecast prior to the storm, the state did okay.

“The crop really wasn’t very tall st this stage across the belt.  Those few fields that were tall did go down, but we anticipate most of this cane standing back up,” said Gravois.

Gravois says there were some pockets of flooding from rainfall and storm surge that needed some attention.

“Most of that water is down.  There is a little clean up to do, but by and large, I think we were spared some of the worst of it,” said Gravois.

Gravois says the industry is still likely to achieve the sugar production level predictions that were put in place prior to the hurricane.

“For the 2019 crop, we think were are going to see another acreage increase, so I think that 1.8 million ton projection for the Louisiana market is very attainable,” said Gravois.

Gravois expects mills to open for processing around September 17th, an early start date because of this year’s large crop.