Do it yourself — that’s the only way that sugarcane farmer Lane Blanchard and his brothers, Harvey and Brant know how to make things happen down at their Iberia Parish farm. “We do everything ourselves,” Lane said. “From tire repair to oil changes — very seldom does…
Grower Profile: The Bubenzer Family Sugar News, July 2014 As a colony for the French and Spanish, Louisiana was pretty much a bust. The only thing Louisiana had going for it prior to 1795 was New Orleans. Whoever controlled New Orleans controlled the commerce of the…
Grower Profile Joby Beaud It’s late February and sugarcane grower Joe Beaud III, of New Roads is standing under his farm shed looking out at his cane field south of LaBarre Service Road. The shed is immaculately clean and his tractors and equipment boast a spit-polish…
By all accounts, Loreauville sugarcane farmer Todd Landry is a great farmer. Loreauville Harvesting, his farming operation, manages more than 2400 acres along the Teche valley bottomland. He farms alongside his younger brother, Patrick, who also owns an interest in…
Sugarcane farmer Mark Patout might be more comfortable in the cane field than anywhere else. He is absolutely and positively dedicated to his sugarcane crop and holds himself and his employees to a high work standard. In early December he was a little more than a…
Louisiana sugarcane grower Chad Hanks recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to share firsthand with lawmakers the challenges farmers face today, from labor shortages to rising production costs. In this guest column, he explains why policies that support American…
Last winter, Louisiana sugarcane farmers watched a historic snowfall do something few expected. It helped protect the 2025 crop from widespread freeze damage. The snow acted as insulation, shielding the roots and preserving the buds that would fuel the next growing…
For Kassi Leger, farming sugarcane was not part of the original plan. After working in sales, she realized the career did not fit and called her father in April 2012 with a proposal: “I think I’m going to come and be on the farm for a little while until I can figure…
Louisiana’s sugarcane growers made their mark in more ways than one at this year’s Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Convention in New Orleans. From important conversations on federal food policy to field-level conservation breakthroughs and a strong showing at the…