Local sugar cane growers are not ready to count on the higher price of sugar just yet because even at prices not seen for decades, the annual average cost to grow sugar cane still adds up to one tough year.

While the recent 26 cents per pound price for sugar is seen as promising by sugar cane farmers in the Teche Area, much of this year’s crop is subject to the troubles of the recent past. Planting was delayed last year due to hurricanes Gustav and Ike, crops suffered through this year’s midsummer drought and rain the past several weeks hit just as harvesting began.

Ronnie Gonsoulin, a sugar cane grower in Iberia and St. Martin parishes and board member of the American Sugar Cane League, said the price increase is welcomed by everyone involved. A ripple effect is being felt in the industry and the respective communities, he said.

Sugar cane farmers, rebounding from last year's storms, see higher prices for crop. BILL SMITH / THE DAILY IBERIAN FILES Advertisement

Farmers and the industry need to be commended for absorbing the costs over the past few years, he said.

“The rising price of sugar gives us somewhat of a better feeling than we’ve had at 20.2 or 20.3 cents a pound,” Gonsoulin said.

People should not count their chickens just yet, he said. Louisiana farmers are getting 26 cents a pound, but if the price peaks and then begins falling the economics could change rapidly.

“We’ve sold a two-month supply of sugar at 26 cents, but averaging across the year brings that price down,” Gonsoulin said.

Meanwhile, the industry is holding off on buying sugar, he said, and using their inventories while hoping the price will go back down.

Some of the problems the industry faces today are fewer growers, 100,000 fewer acres of sugar cane, farmers changing from sugar cane to grain crops, and commercialization and development in fields across the entire cane belt, he pointed out.

“We had 16 mills five or six years ago,” Gonsoulin said. “Now we’re down to 11.”

Ronald Hebert, a Jeanerette sugar cane farmer, said the price increase is a welcome change, but with the increased costs of growing, it evens out.

“With the inflation we’ve experienced in fuel and fertilizer and chemical costs, we’re still not going to be where we were five years ago,” Hebert said.

“Who knows how long this price is going to stay there? Sugar’s sold on an average price, and we still have 10 months left to go.”

Half of this year’s crop was sold before the market went up, he said, so the current average is closer to 22 cents per pound than 26.

“I may be off a half-a-cent or so, but if (the price) stays up then the average will go up,” Hebert said. “We’re just hopeful that things are looking up and we think things are going to get better.”

Sugar content is a concern for Hebert. With the recent rain after a dry spell, the cane is growing in the field, and growing cane delays its maturing, which is when sugar content increases. Cooler weather and a decrease in rain will help the cane mature, he said, as well as make the harvesting easier without having to work in muddy fields.

Mike Robicheaux, who farms 2,800 acres of sugar cane in the Centerville-Patterson area, said he is glad to see prices are high, but added most of the mills have already booked their sugar this year. Whether a grower gets 23 or 24 cents to the pound grown this year all depends on the individual mills.

“The better year will be next year,” Robicheaux said, “because the mills are already booking at 28 cents per pound. It’s like a splash of cool water in the face. It should keep us going for awhile.”

Some local growers already are delivering cane to the mills, beginning what they call this year’s campaign. This year will be an estimated 100-day campaign, formally beginning Oct.12 and ending around Christmas.

“It’s a lovely life, a good way to raise a family,” said Donald Segura, who along with his two sons is growing 3,000 acres of sugar cane in Iberia and St. Mary parishes.

For the last several years it has been one step forward and two steps back, he said, and it gets tougher and tougher to make a living, but prices like those currently being paid help a little bit, if not for today then certainly for tomorrow.

“It’s not for right now,” Segura said. “It’s so we can stay in business and stay ahead. It’s good to know we’ve got income coming.”