Record sugar harvest expected

Good weather cited for high quality despite average quantity

PLAQUEMINE — With the end of the year approaching, the 2011 sugar-cane harvest is close to wrapping up, and industry watchers say Louisiana farmers should produce record levels of raw sugar this year.

Kenneth Gravois, sugar-cane specialist with the LSU AgCenter, said the total tonnage of cane harvested per acre in Louisiana will be somewhat average when the final numbers are tallied, but farmers will have an above average quality crop.

A mostly dry year with timely rains in July, followed by the heavy rainfall Tropical Storm Lee dumped on the state around Labor Day, created the right conditions for a high-quality crop, Gravois said.

And when the storm passed, clear, sunny days at below average temperatures followed , he said.

“Nobody likes it when a tropical storm comes through, but it was a positive event for agriculture,” he said. “The sugar accumulated early, and it accumulated at high levels.”

Gravois predicts Louisiana farmers will produce a highly favorable 230 pounds of sugar per ton of cane this year compared with last year’s 226 pounds per ton.

The crop’s high sugar content should offset what experts predict will be a middling year in total cane harvested, he said.

The state’s 2011 cane harvest should come in around 12 million tons, which is considered a down year in a state that typically harvests between 13 million and 14 million tons annually, Gravois said.

Cecil Ramagos, a sugar-cane farmer since 1982, farms about 1,000 acres in the Plaquemine area with a handful of business partners.

Ramagos said he finished planting in early September, right before the tropical storm dumped about 9 inches of rain on his farm.

“I thought the crop was going to be average at best, but the storm really turned things on,” he said.

The dry weather after the storm made for a smooth-running harvest, Ramagos said.

Cane farmers typically battle inconvenient rainfall that can upend the harvesting schedule, and then they have to slog through muddy fields to get their crops to sugar mills for processing.

“When it’s dry, you can pick up the downed cane easier, you don’t have as much down time, and there’s not a lot of wear and tear on the equipment,” he said.

Ramagos’ business is also riding the good fortune of current high market prices, he said.

“Prices were pretty good last year and they’re looking good this year too,” he said.

Sugar is priced over 12-month periods, so farmers will not see a return on this year’s crop until August, Ramagos said.

Gravois, the LSU sugar-cane specialist, said farmers will probably get about $0.30 per pound of raw sugar produced, compared with a 20-year period where prices hovered around $0.20.

Several miles south of Plaquemine, the Cora Texas Manufacturing Co. sugar mill is processing cane into raw sugar and molasses.

Cora Texas Chief Operating Officer Charlie Schudmak said the White Castle business processes 1.5 million tons of cane every year, which equates to about 350 million pounds of sugar and 8 million gallons of molasses.

Like other industry experts, Schudmak said he thinks the state’s cane crop will be varied across the state.

But Schudmak expects south Louisiana farmers to have a good year.

“We’ll have a record crop here in this area. We’ll see over 8,500 pounds of sugar per acre,” he said. “The average is closer to 8,000 pounds.”

While many people are taking a break from work for the holidays, Schudmak and the rest of the sugar-cane industry will be hustling and trying to finish up the harvesting and processing by next week.

Cora Texas has been processing sugar cane nonstop since October, Schudmak said. “We take deliveries 12 hours a day and the factory runs all night long. We go 24/7 for 90 days straight; it’s nonstop,” he said.