Louisiana sugarcane survey, weather events and production statistics for 2005

摘要

Sugarcane surveys were conducted during the summer of 2005 by county agents in the 24 sugarcane-growing parishes (counties) of Louisiana to determine the makeup and distribution of cultivars planted across the industry in the state. The information presented in this report was summarized from those individual parish surveys. Additional information regarding parish areas were collected as needed from the local Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices. The survey primarily reflects cultivar preferences of Louisiana sugarcane producers with the crop divided into four categories: plant-cane, first-ratoon, second-ratoon and third-ratoon and older crops. Further, the state was divided into three regions: Bayou Teche, River-Bayou Lafourche and Northern. The survey reports percentages by cultivar and crop for the state as a whole, by region and crop, by cultivar and crop for the three regions and shows cultivar trends for a 5-year period, 2001-2005. Of the 185,004 ha of sugarcane grown in Louisiana in 2005, 89% was planted to one cultivar, LCP 85-384. LCP 85-384 was released for commercial production in 1993 and soon became the leading cultivar because of its superior yielding ability in both cane and sugar per hectare in plant-cane and ratoon crops and its resistance to the major diseases, reaching 91% of the planted area in 2004. When released, LCP 85-384 was classified as resistant to brown rust; however, it is now classified as susceptible. Other older cultivars in the survey included CP 70-321, HoCP 85-845and HoCP 91-555. However, the yield of LCP 85-384 has decreased significantly in recent years, especially in older ratoon crops because of brown rust and other factors and is now being replaced by three new cultivars, Ho 95-988, HoCP 96-540 and L 97-128. The 2005 crop year was one of contrast with regards to turbulent weather conditions. Temperature, as an average for all state reporting stations, was above normal for 6 of the 12 months and at normal for only 3 months. Rainfall, as an average for all state reporting stations, was below normal for 9 of the 12 months and above normal for only 3 months. Then during sugarcane's grand growth period, the industry experienced the impact of three hurricanes, Cindy, Katrina and Rita. Cindy caused significant damage to the sugarcane crop in the southern areas of the belt. Katrina and Rita followed in late August and September, respectively, occurring approximately three weeks apart. Katrina was an extraordinarily powerful and deadly hurricane that carved a wide swath of catastrophic damage in the eastern parishes of the sugarcane belt. Rita was also a powerful storm that caused significant damage in the western parishes of the sugarcane belt. Rita also caused tidal flooding to over 12,000 ha which seriously affected the yield and quality of sugarcane in those areas. Fortunately, following the passage of the three hurricanes, weather conditions improved dramatically with below normal rainfall and plenty of sun light allowing for excellent harvesting conditions and improved maturity of the crop in spite of the lodged condition of the cane. The 13 raw sugar factories operating in Louisiana for the 2005 crop processed 9,707,648 tons of cane, producing 1,053,269 metric tons of sugar (96 pol). The average yield of cane per total hectare (to include 8% of the total area used for seed cane purposes and approximately 1,400 ha of cane left standing in the field not harvested) was 52.21 ha~(-1). The average yield of cane from each harvested hectare amounted to 57.41ha~(-1). Sugar produced per total hectare amounted to 5,673 kg ha~(-1) and sugar produced per harvested hectare was 6,217 kg ha~(-1). The average yield of recoverable sugar per ton of cane at the 13 factories was 10.93% or 109 kg t~(-1).