Rain leaves bitter harvest for state’s sugar farmers

Christmas Day was just another workday for farmers trying to salvage their sugar cane from the soggy fields of southeast Louisiana. Men and machines were out in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, where torrential mid-December rains flooded fields where sugar was already cut—creating potential problems for next year’s crop—and in places where the harvest was still in progress. The Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture says farmers won’t know how bad a hit they’ve taken for a while yet. “With sugar it will depend how fast they can pump that off, so it remains to be seen,” says Commissioner Mike Strain, when asked just how badly the rains that have flooded houses and stranded cattle in other fields will affect the sugar industry. The stubble that remains in fields where harvesting already took place is also at risk from the rains. Farmers said the water could make the fields unusable for the coming year.