Research may improve sugar cane growth
Published: Friday, August 23, 2013 at 9:29 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, August 23, 2013 at 9:29 p.m.
Local researchers are conducting an experiment that sugar cane farmers may want to watch closely.
The Sugarcane Research Unit with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Houma is experimenting with planting alternative crops that would replenish nutrients and microorganisms in the soil during fallow years for sugar cane fields.
“Hopefully, this research will provide new insights and information that will result in a greater understanding of the impact of different cropping systems during the sugar cane fallow period,” USDA research agronomist Charles “Chuck” Webber said.
The research unit is planting kenaf, a fibrous plant related to okra and cotton. The U.S. started working with it during World War II.
Kenaf reintroduces nutrients and changes what types of microorganisms are living in the soil.
Farmers get three or four years out of one sugar cane planting, Webber said. Each year the yield is less, and the farmer is faced with a decision to replant or continue planting at lower yields.
This is because of the decreasing biodiversity of microorganisms in the soil after sugar cane has grown in it for several seasons, Webber said.
If a farmer decides to let his crop run fallow, he must do so for 10 months until the next opportunity to plant, Webber said.
Maintaining the fields during fallow years costs a lot of money, said Gary Gravois, a sugar cane farmer in Napoleonville.
Sugar cane farmers plant soybeans during fallow years because the price is so low, said Mike Daigle, president of the Thibodaux-based American Sugar Cane League.
Gravois’ crop is in a fallow year and he is harvesting the soybeans he planted last year. The rotated soybean crop hasn’t increased his sugar cane yield, but it hasn’t hurt the crop, he said.
Asked if he would switch should the USDA’s research prove that kenaf provides higher sugar cane yields, Gravois said, “I’ll try a little bit of anything.”
Staff Writer Jean-Paul Arguello can be reached at 448-7617 or at email@example.com.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.