Anda di halaman 1dari 2

Herman Waguespack, Jr.

2010 Louisiana Sugar Cane Industry Report


Its been said many times, many ways, that no two years are the same in Louisiana sugarcane country; the 2010 crop certainly didnt follow in any previous years wake. Fortunately, the industry has been able to adapt to the differences from year to year and has now completed 215 years of commercial sugar production. Now, thats a statistic to be proud of! Statistics are quite often used to gauge the success or failure of any particular crop year. After all the hard work and efforts that go into producing sugar are transformed into numbers, we give the year a thumbs-up or down. Quite often we must wipe our brows with a determined resolve that next year will be better. But, thats the business of agriculture and in particular sugarcane. Its a major business and production statistics are certainly indispensable, but theres always more to the story than numbers alone. This article will tell the 2010 story by highlighting some of the important events of the year. The year began with much uncertainty. Mother Nature had again dealt a nasty blow with the cold, wet harvest season of 2009. Many within the industry were hopeful that the weather conditions would not prove to be detrimental to the new crop. Growers were busy early in the year repairing rutted fields and re-establishing proper drainage. The poor harvest conditions had many fields looking like a battleground; with cane rows left vulnerable to further damage from the freezing temperatures early in the year. Over a three day period, with lows dipping in the teens, it seemed unlikely that the stubble crop would survive without harm. Once growers were able to begin working the crop in the spring, they had considerable difficulty removing the mud and shucks from the top of the row. In general, the growers who had more harvest damage and those with a larger percentage of older stubble were forced to plow out more fields than normal. The cool, wet spring was cause for concern and weak stubble stands were seen throughout the state. Luckily, the bulk of the plant-cane crop was planted under nearly ideal conditions during 2009. The early planted cane established excellent stands in most areas of the belt. But, the fields that were planted late in November produced stands that were mediocre at best. Many of these fields were plowed in the spring, due to erratic stands. Growers were advised to be patient and only destroy fields that were absolutely necessary. By late spring, it was evident that the entire industry was in need of ideal growing conditions to overcome the slow start. The areas that received sufficient rain were cautiously optimistic that the crop would be better than initially expected. Unfortunately, the regions with lingering damage from last harvest season also had drier than normal growing conditions. These growers were disheartened by tonnage yields that were as much as 20% below normal. This had a major impact on the total tons of cane (about 2 million tons less than last year) that were harvested for sugar. Luckily, the industry was spared from hurricane damage, which greatly improved planting operations. But, the harvest was not without its challenges due to several late season freeze events. Both growers and mills were forced to strategically plan the end of the harvest season to complete the campaign with minimal losses. With dry weather lasting well into the harvest season, the industry, as a whole, posted notable yields for such a doubtful beginning. The production statistics for the year will document yet another year of sugar production with sugar yields averaging more than 7000 pounds of sugar per acre. Just over 12 million tons of cane were processed by 11 raw sugar mills. The crop yielded an average of 31 tons of cane per acre and due in part to good harvest conditions; the processors were able to extract a whopping 231 pounds of sugar per ton. That will be recorded as a new sugar per ton record for the state. Sugarcane was produced on 420,000 acres, but after using approximately 7% for seed cane, about 390,000 acres were available to be harvested to produce 1,401,145 tons of sugar (raw value). Although not all regions had such good yields, the relatively dry harvest season was a welcomed relief. The variety HoCP 96-540 appeared to be most affected by the wet harvest conditions of 2009; yet this variety was still grown on almost half of the acres for the 2010 crop. Two newer varieties, L 99-226 and L 99-233, have continued to increase in acreage with a combined total of more than 25% of the states acreage. Due to smut and rust, the

16 | www.SugarJournal.com

SJ | March 2011

varieties LCP 85-384, Ho 95-988 and L 97-128 continue to decline in usage, but still made up approximately 15% of the acreage. Other varieties such as HoCP 00-950, L 01-283 and L 01-299 helped to round out the slate of varieties grown during 2010. Growers recognize the wisdom of planting an assortment of varieties to maximize the strong points and minimize the weak points of the available varieties. With the release of the new variety L 03371, growers will have another choice to be able to utilize a high sugar variety that has shown good disease resistance in multiple years of testing. Hopefully this variety will provide growers with many years of favorable production. Several noteworthy news reports had sugar in the spotlight during the year. Construction of a new sugar refinery in Gramercy began early in the year. The refinery is jointly owned by Cargill, Imperial Sugars and SUGAR (a cooperative representing

eight Louisiana raw sugar mills and over 700 growers). The million-tonper-year refinery is scheduled to begin operations in 2011. The increasing trend for manufacturers to switch from high fructose corn sweeteners to sugar fueled some of the big stories in the food and beverage industry. Food companies have made the switch in an effort to satisfy consumer demand for products with simple, natural ingredients and beverage makers have reported that sugar sweetened beverages are appealing to people who are looking for better taste. This comes at a time of increased demand for sugar worldwide. With the increased demand comes a welcomed increase in raw sugar prices. The industry is currently experiencing the strongest sustained price rally in over a quarter century and has every reason to be optimistic about the future. Herman Waguespack, Jr., Agronomist, American Sugar Cane League

Serving Sugar for 40 Years

A & F TEXAS
Chains Conveyors Sprockets Bearings Gears Filters and Filter Parts Copper and Stainless Tubing Moly Lubricants Alfa Laval Evaporators and Juice Heaters

www.aftexas.com andy@aftexas.com Phone: 281.449.9332 Fax: 281.449.1742

SJ | March 2011

www.SugarJournal.com | 17

Anda mungkin juga menyukai