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A Question for Cane Farmers on Cold Tolerance
Posted on 5/15/24 at 7:36 am
Posted on 5/15/24 at 7:36 am
What’s the real limiting factor about it? Seed cane not surviving the winter? Freezing before harvest is done? Why not have more cane cutters to speed up harvest?
Or is it more of a growing season limiter?
Or is it more of a growing season limiter?
Posted on 5/15/24 at 8:07 am to Decisions
Doesn’t sugar cane need two season’s? That would be extremely capital intensive.
ETA: not a farmer.
ETA: not a farmer.
This post was edited on 5/15/24 at 8:08 am
Posted on 5/15/24 at 8:24 am to bbvdd
quote:
Doesn’t sugar cane need two season’s?
In Louisiana I believe the seed cane is planted in the fall and harvested the next year. After that you get one or more years of regrowth (stubble) that you don’t have to replant. How many years depends on how well it weathers I think.
Posted on 5/15/24 at 8:49 am to Decisions
I heard you get 4 harvests per plant
Posted on 5/15/24 at 9:19 am to StonewallJack
The John Deere double row cane harvester is the most expensive piece of equipment they sell.
Posted on 5/15/24 at 10:21 am to Decisions
Temperatures below 22 degrees will kill all above-ground parts of the sugar cane. Once this happens it becomes very susceptible to bacteria. The northern line is basically Rapides and Avoyelles Parish.
Posted on 5/15/24 at 10:54 am to AP83
quote:I think my back yard it the literal line. If there is any North of Bayou Robert, I don't know where it is.
The northern line is basically Rapides and Avoyelles Parish
Posted on 5/15/24 at 11:36 am to Kingpenm3
Wow. Really? More than any excavator, dozer, forestry equipment??
This post was edited on 5/15/24 at 11:38 am
Posted on 5/15/24 at 12:30 pm to Decisions
It’s not about how much cane the farmer can handle cutting it’s about how much cane the mill can take in from said farmer. Farmers are almost always on quotas of how many tons they can send to the mill daily. Mill has to appease all farmers.
Posted on 5/15/24 at 1:40 pm to NattyLite
quote:
Wow. Really? More than any excavator, dozer, forestry equipment??
Does any of that equipment run more than a million dollars new? Cane farming definitely isn’t small stakes, lol.
quote:
It’s not about how much cane the farmer can handle cutting it’s about how much cane the mill can take in from said farmer. Farmers are almost always on quotas of how many tons they can send to the mill daily. Mill has to appease all farmers.
Gotcha. Sounds more like a milling bottleneck than a growing/climate bottleneck, then.
Posted on 5/15/24 at 1:46 pm to Decisions
quote:Pretty sure it was even worse a while back when cane was transported in larger sizes. When the Meeker mill closed, cane pretty much disappeared in CENLA.
Gotcha. Sounds more like a milling bottleneck than a growing/climate bottleneck, then.
Posted on 5/15/24 at 2:03 pm to AlxTgr
quote:
Pretty sure it was even worse a while back when cane was transported in larger sizes. When the Meeker mill closed, cane pretty much disappeared in CENLA.
What was the deal with that mill? Poor management? It sounds like everyone that I’ve talked to around that area would grow cane if they had the milling.
Posted on 5/15/24 at 2:06 pm to Decisions
quote:
Gotcha. Sounds more like a milling bottleneck than a growing/climate bottleneck, then.
That's not the case. There's new acres getting put into cane every year. It's literally a climate and soils issue.
Sugarcane is a tropical crop. South American farmers can get multiple harvests out of a field in a single year, and the cane is much larger down there.
Here, however, cane is at its northern limits. This is part of the reason cane stubble is burned, because if they leave it on the ground too long, the soil may not get to the temperature it needs to be long enough for growth. Once you get far enough north where hard freezes happen pretty regularly, the climate is no longer suitable for cane.
On top of that, the best soils for can production are the alluvial soils along the Atchafalaya and Mississippi. Once you get so far west (i.e., onto the prairie), the productivity of those soils drops of significantly.
This post was edited on 5/15/24 at 2:08 pm
Posted on 5/15/24 at 2:52 pm to Decisions
quote:I really don't know.
What was the deal with that mill? Poor management?
Posted on 5/15/24 at 4:12 pm to Decisions
quote:
Does any of that equipment run more than a million dollars new? Cane farming definitely isn’t small stakes, lol.
Wow. That’s incredible. Got some YouTubing to do tonight!
Posted on 5/15/24 at 7:06 pm to Kingpenm3
That machine works hard in a leafy environment resulting in build up of combustable stuff all over the machine. I have seen a couple catch fire and self-destruct
Posted on 5/15/24 at 7:49 pm to Kingpenm3
quote:
The John Deere double row cane harvester is the most expensive piece of equipment they sell.
Costs about $30,000 more than a CP770 cotton picker.
Posted on 5/15/24 at 9:45 pm to Cowboyfan89
quote:
cane is at its northern limits.
Current northern limits. It wasn’t that long ago that many would have laughed at the idea of Avoyelles (and even Concordia, briefly) growing cane, but it’s happened.
I think we’ve just got a logistics problem, personally. I’m aware of the soil situation. As long as it’s alluvial and not loess it’ll be up to the challenge. I’m sure a freak frost can and would happen occasionally, but according to the hardiness/climate maps I’ve looked at cane could certainly be pushed farther north.
Posted on 5/15/24 at 11:19 pm to Decisions
frick cane, it with pines are vile weeds!
Posted on 5/16/24 at 6:15 am to Decisions
The sugarcane mills are the bottleneck. As stated, farmers each have a quota so more-or-less each farm finishes it's harvest about the same time.
The earlier you cut the cane, the less sweet it is. When they start in September, the sugarcane is still actively growing so the sucrose in the plant is low. As temperatures fall and days get shorter, the cane stops growing as fast and stores more sugar to make it through the winter. Sugar yields increase as winter approaches. A light freeze can really help the sugar yields as the cane stops growing completely and everything goes to sugar storage. But a hard freeze will kill the plant (sugar cane is a tropical plant) and while it will get real sweet for a time, after 1-3 weeks, the stalks actually spoil, and the crop is lost. Hard freezes before December are rare in South Louisiana. I guess that changes around Avoyelles Parish. I dunno.
Farmers will actually spray some fields with dilute Roundup (called pollada) just prior to harvest to get the sugar yield up. No surfactant though. It has the same affect as a light freeze.
The Sugar Industry would not exist in the US if not for government subsidies. American farmers could not stay in business if they had to trade their product on the world market.
The earlier you cut the cane, the less sweet it is. When they start in September, the sugarcane is still actively growing so the sucrose in the plant is low. As temperatures fall and days get shorter, the cane stops growing as fast and stores more sugar to make it through the winter. Sugar yields increase as winter approaches. A light freeze can really help the sugar yields as the cane stops growing completely and everything goes to sugar storage. But a hard freeze will kill the plant (sugar cane is a tropical plant) and while it will get real sweet for a time, after 1-3 weeks, the stalks actually spoil, and the crop is lost. Hard freezes before December are rare in South Louisiana. I guess that changes around Avoyelles Parish. I dunno.
Farmers will actually spray some fields with dilute Roundup (called pollada) just prior to harvest to get the sugar yield up. No surfactant though. It has the same affect as a light freeze.
The Sugar Industry would not exist in the US if not for government subsidies. American farmers could not stay in business if they had to trade their product on the world market.
This post was edited on 5/16/24 at 6:16 am
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