A lot has changed in southeastern Lafayette Parish since Eddie “Boss Man” Lewis Sr., 72, was a young man. Pinhook Road east of the Vermilion River was a two-lane highway all the way to Broussard. Sugarcane occupied the real estate populated by oil field support…
Nicholls State University, Office of Continuing Education offers two cane sugar institutes each year during the summer. They include the International Sugar Cane Refiners’ Institute, which began in 1978, and the International Raw Cane Sugar Manufacturers’ Institute,…
Each year, the Louisiana sugarcane harvest tells a story. Sometimes that story is defined by adversity. Other times, it is shaped by resilience and a little bit of grace from Mother Nature. This year, the preliminary harvest data shows several records were set with…
November is a season of gratitude, a time when most farmers across the country have wrapped up their harvests and turned their attention to winter and next year’s plans. It is very different in the cane belt. For Louisiana’s sugarcane producers, November means one…
A Dense Fog Advisory is in effect Conditions continue to become more favorable for widespread fog including dense fog. A greater concern is the possibility of Super Fog developing. Numerous fires mainly due to burning of agricultural fields like Sugar Cane…
If you have been anywhere near a cane field lately, you can feel it. The trucks are on the road before daylight, steam from the mills is back in the air and harvest season is officially underway. After a long summer of waiting, planning and watching the weather,…
Louisiana sugarcane grower Travis Medine approached the 101st annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, hosted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington, D.C., with mixed feelings. “It’s difficult to leave because you’re always thinking about what…
If there’s one thing that transcends borders, languages and generations, it’s the shared experience of farming. That bond was evident when Kevin and Kayla Veenstra, a farming couple from Alberta, Canada, swapped the icy grip of a Canadian winter for an unseasonably…
As we move into the holiday season, we have much for which to be thankful when we look at the broader picture of the Louisiana sugarcane industry. The final report for 2023 shows that the industry remains strong as it enters its third century of sugar production….