(09/30/26) PORT ALLEN, La. — On a Monday morning at a sugarcane farm in Port Allen, LSU AgCenter entomologist Blake Wilson and two student workers pushed through green and yellow cane stalks on a field’s border and into the interior rows. There, they found plants that were completely brown.
This farm, and many others throughout the state, has been infested with the pasture mealybug, an invasive species first identified by Louisiana crop consultants last year. At this time of year, when harvest season has begun, most farmers would be excited for their crop to be sent to the sugar mills. But this year, growers aren’t sure what to expect from their product.
“Until we start getting well into the harvest season, it’s just hard to know how the pasture mealybug will affect yield in the field and recovery at the mills,” said Kenneth Gravois, AgCenter sugarcane specialist. “Data has been collected and will continue to be collected. Once the harvest starts, we’ll start collecting more data on the yield aspect of the problem.”…