Giving
these growers a helping hand with recovery are scientists at the
Agricultural Research Service's (ARS) Sugarcane Research Laboratory in
Houma, La. Under the direction of research leader Ed Richard, the
laboratory's scientists and technicians have been offering their best
advice on how to manage wind-warped and submerged cane.
According
to Ben Legendre, a former ARS sugarcane researcher now working at the
Louisiana State University AgCenter in St. Gabriel, more than 300,000
acres of cane were affected by the storm.
Katrina's severe winds
and rains pummeled the state's 8- to 10-foot-tall sugarcane plants.
Tops were sheared off, and wide swaths of cane were flattened as if
steamrolled.
Then, in a double whammy, Hurricane Rita struck.
That storm's tidal surge pushed eight to 10 feet of water several miles
inland and flooded more than 35,000 acres of cane. Many fields remained
under water for more than four days.
With the help of special
federal emergency funds from U.S. Department of Agriculture agencies,
hard-hit growers are getting back on their feet now, trying to recover
from the estimated $280 million worth of damage.
The
ARS sugarcane laboratory in Houma is also providing aid in the form of
research-based advice for growers whose fields were inundated with salt
water. According to Richard, it's hard to predict how these plants will
do during the next couple of years. That's frustrating for growers,
since sugarcane is a perennial plant that most had expected would
produce a solid four years of harvest.
Houma scientists are also
discussing pest-management options with growers, since the pervasive
flooding also killed many beneficial predatory insects.
Read more about this work in the February 2007 issue of Agricultural Research magazine, available online at:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR
/archive/feb07/cane0207.htm
ARS is USDA's chief scientific research agency.
_____________
ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Erin Peabody, (301) 504-1624,
erin.peabody@ars.usda.gov
February 21, 2007
--View this report online, plus photos and related stories, at
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr
____________
