There's also a link to The Sugar Bulletin, the League's monthly magazine, and its advertising rates and subscrption information. The Sugar Bulletin has been published since 1922 and you can research the sugar industry archives by clicking here or in the drop list to the left. The American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists archives are also available.
Despite 2023’s drought, Louisiana’s landowners, sugarcane producers and millers continue to have confidence in sugarcane in 2024. Kenneth Gravois, the LSU AgCenter sugarcane specialist, is not surprised. “There are two factors for the continued increase in sugarcane production: increased acreage and better sugar production from third year and older cane stubble,” said Gravois. There are more than 500,000 acres…
The Mississippi River levee in front of retired sugarcane farmer George “Scrap” Hymel’s Gramercy, Louisiana home has been the site of a Christmas Eve bonfire for 53 years. Hymel saw his last bonfire in 2022; he passed away on December 30, 2022. But for the Hymel family to not participate in the annual tradition of building the holiday bonfire…
The vision of the 1922 founders of the American Sugar Cane League was to seek out the best scientific research available. They forged a partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture and Louisiana State University. Louisiana’s sugarcane industry found new vigor after the establishment of this “three-way agreement.” Because of this scientific cooperation we’ve managed to increase raw…
Dr. Michael Grisham, Research Leader of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Sugarcane Research Unit in Houma, Louisiana has retired. Grisham first came to Louisiana in 1984 to work for the USDA’s Agricultural Research Unit as a plant pathologist. After 37 years of service to the Louisiana sugarcane industry, Dr. Grisham retired not only as the research leader of…
Sugarcane producer Keith Dugas of Assumption Parish loves farming. He loves everything about it. He remembers watching his father, the late Lloyd Dugas, on the tractor and he couldn’t wait for his turn. “My father came from a family of ten brothers and one sister,” Dugas said. “Four of the brothers farmed and then went on to other things…
The sugarcane crop is ready to harvest, and Louisiana’s 11 sugar mills are grinding cane 24 hours a day. About 15.5 million tons of cane is expected to be harvested this year. Based on past performance, the United States Department of Agriculture’s World Agricultural Supply & Demand Estimates is predicting we’ll produce about 1.8 million tons of raw sugar…
In yet another sign that our society is inching back to a pre-pandemic “normal,” the LSU AgCenter hosted a sugarcane field day in Pointe Coupee Parish the first week of June. It was the first in-person field day for sugarcane since the pandemic began. More than 60 producers, consultants and other interested parties were hosted by producer Joby Beaud…
Right now, the next generation of Louisiana sugarcane producers is getting their start as farmers, milling professionals, and researchers. It’s the circle of life in the sugarcane world. One of these young producers is 24-year-old Lee Hymel of Vacherie, a fourth-generation sugarcane farmer. He has partnered up with his pal, Reed Schexnayder, 26, of Donaldsonville. Lee has made three…
The modern era of the Louisiana sugarcane industry began when the sugarcane growers and millers organized the American Sugar Cane League in 1922. At that time, the dreaded mosaic disease had nearly wiped out the crop. To save the industry, the sugar producers began to look for the best varieties and the best scientific minds to set the industry…
Louisiana Sugar Cane Co-Operative: Planning for the Future It is said that prosperity is a great teacher, but adversity is a much tougher taskmaster. Those opposing ideas faced the management of the old Breaux Bridge Sugar Cooperative and the St. Martin Sugar Cooperative back in the 1980s and 90s. Michael G. (Mike) Melancon of Henderson was a young farmer…
“Farming is a lifestyle that put me in touch with nature, which I see as a privilege.” Gene Adolph The average size of the Louisiana sugarcane farm is 1,000 acres so that makes Gene Adolph’s farm an average-sized farm. But Gene the farmer? Gene the farmer is anything but average. He has the usual sugarcane pedigree. He’s a fourth-generation…
Grower Profile: The Vallot Family "They've seen the Vallots work hard all these years." It’s fair to say the Grosse Isle community of Vermilion Parish is the “country” and it’s where the Vallot family has been farming sugarcane for five generations. Monte Vallot, 57, and his brother Donnie, 64, share equal responsibility and manage the 3,200 acres…
