BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — An agriculture expert says this year’s Louisiana sugarcane crop had great growing conditions although Hurricane Francine’s strong winds damaged some crops.
An estimated two million tons of sugar is expected to be produced from this year’s crops.
“Acreage increased again in 2024 and was reported at just over 536,000 acres by the USDA Farm Service Agency,” said LSU AgCenter Sugarcane Production Specialist Kenneth Gravois.
Gravois said crops had “nearly ideal growing conditions” despite the northern part of the state having dryness over the summer. He said the crop had more rainfall compared to 2023 when the state experienced an extreme drought.
Sugarcane crops didn’t go without having some challenges from the weather. Gravois said Hurricane Francine hitting Louisiana affected sugarcane growing in southeastern-most parishes. Damage to crops included crops falling over and some root breakage causing some leaves to die, which Gravois said negatively affects sucrose accumulation in the stalks.