Sugarcane industry hears issues, advancements at annual meeting
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
The annual meetings of the American Sugar Cane League and the American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists Louisiana Division held Feb. 6 to 8 at L’Auberge Casino and Hotel in Baton Rouge featured growers, scientists and millers from throughout the state.
Al Orgeron, LSU AgCenter sugarcane pest management specialist, said it’s a win for all when the two groups can come together.
“This is an opportunity for us to share information, which tends to lean more to the scientific front than you would normally hear at one of our field days,” he said. “A lot of this is cutting-edge technology that we’re just trying to introduce to the group.”
Orgeron said the collaboration and comradery are two of the most important aspects of these types of meetings.
One of Orgeron’s presentations discussed the use of spray drones to cover areas that traditional crop dusters may miss because they are moving so fast.
“It takes some additional steps on the grower’s part,” he said. “First, you have to be licensed by the FAA to fly the drone, and they have to get their aerial applicator’s license from the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.”
He said the technology is improving so fast that a user can put in the parameters and the done will almost fly itself.
“One of the best parts about the technology is the obstacle avoidance system that keeps it from crashing into objects,” he said.
The guest speaker for the meeting was Jim Wiesemeyer, a political analyst with Pro Farmer who talked about what’s happening in Washington, D.C.
In his presentation, Wiesemeyer talked about threats to the upcoming farm bill and how the sugarcane industry can get involved.
“The country’s debt right now is $34.1 trillion, and that has a way of eating into policy,” he said. “Right now, it costs taxpayers over $400 million each year just to service that debt,” he said. “If there has to be cuts, they will go after the low-hanging fruit, which is crop insurance.”
Orgeron said AgCenter nematologist Tristan Watson’s presentation on soil nematology is a topic that hasn’t been talked about much at all in the past 20 years.
“Tristan gave a great synopsis of nematodes and what’s going on in that area,” he said. “We also had some manufacturing talks since we had some crystal elongation problems early in the crop that caused some processing problems.”
He said the AgCenter Audubon Sugar Institute worked on the problem and gave a great presentation about the issue.
“We talked about the freeze and its impact on the recovery,” he said. “So this is a pretty comprehensive meeting. We try to keep this organization relevant with the latest information.”
Others on the program discussed topics that included new ripener application methods, billet seed treatment and microbial contaminants found in Louisiana sugar factories.
Orgeron said after each year’s harvest, the American Sugar Cane Technologists Louisiana Division meets in conjunction with the American Sugar Cane League. And in June, the Louisiana and Florida divisions will have a joint meeting in Savannah to discuss regional issues. ∆