A year after Hurricane Ida, this year’s sugar-cane harvest is looking sweet in Terrebonne, Lafourche
Colin Campo of the Daily Comet interviewed two sugarcane farmers from the Lafourche-Terrebonne parish area to compare the 2021 crop ravaged by Hurricane Ida and what the 2022 looks like. Here’s the beginning of his report.
Sugar-cane farmers in Terrebonne and Lafourche are optimistic they will finish their ongoing harvest strong after last year put a hurting on their business.
A soggy 2021 was further ruined by Hurricane Ida barreling through the region.
Local farmers said last year’s yields were the worst they could remember. The two parishes saw yields of 5,560 pounds of sugar per acre, more than 2,400 pounds less than the average across Louisiana, according to the American Sugar Cane League in Thibodaux.
“The entire southeast Louisiana sugar-cane industry felt the blows dealt by the hurricane,” said Renee Naquin Castro, LSU AgCenter agronomy agent for Terrebonne, Lafourche, and several surrounding parishes that make up about 25% of the state’s production.
