Sugarcane season began this week after a summer drought.
Eddie Lewis of Eddie Lewis Sugarcane Farms LLC, said this has resulted in a loss for many sugarcane farmers like himself.
"I would say in Louisiana there's probably gonna be 20-30 percent of the sugar cane that can't be cut because of the severe drought."
Lewis said the sugarcane began to die in the summer but was revived by the rain.
Unfortunately, though, the drought stunted the growth of the harvest, making the sugarcane not usable for this season
"The drought stopped the cane and it could be 36, 46 inches but it's still gonna be a huge loss to the sugar cane farmer," Lewis said. "We're used to cane being 10 to 15 foot tall on the average."
As for the burn ban in place, Lewis said this only affects a small group of farmers.
"The only cane that you can burn right now is the cane that you cut, its laying on the ground, you burn it you have to burn it to send it to the mill," Lewis said. "But that's the old school way and there's only maybe five to ten percent of the farmers that do it that way."
Lewis said after farmers experienced the hottest summer on record and a dry climate, they will learn how to better prepare in the future.
"There's never been a drought this severe in Louisiana in the history of sugar cane," Lewis said.
"So this will be our first year experiencing it to see what kind of losses and how to prepare for the future of this."
Lewis said farmers will be able to tell just how much they lost this year after the sugarcane goes to a processing mill.
As it raining on Thursday afternoon and Lewis' crops were watered, he was thankful.
"We've been waiting for this rain for four to five months so we're very grateful for this rain," Lewis said.
