Sugar cane fields are the result of dauntless efforts

The scene before me was as uncommon as it was disconcerting.

Bordering a sugar cane field just west of Jeanerette on Louisiana 182, for quite some time, I’d been seeing tractors and planting carts stationary for several days while the fields nearby remained unplanted.

Knowing that the property belonged to my friends Mark and Chris Patout I decided last week to call Chris and see what was causing their delay.  Grinding had started and by this time of year most, if not all, planting operations had been concluded.

On a rainy afternoon Chris and I met at his rented hangar at Jeanerette’s airport where he keeps his vintage airplane, a 1972 Piper Cherokee. It was an ideal setting. While sitting in chairs that once belonged to his grandmother Barbara and with the hangar door partially opened allowing us to see sugar cane fields stretching eastward beyond the runway, we had a memorable visit.

After asking him about the status of their cane planting, Chris replied, “As usual, bad weather is always the culprit.  Rain can delay everything.  In the meantime…until we get a dry spell and can finish planting 40 acres we have left to go, we’ve been hauling cane to the mill on a daily basis.”

He added, “Planting, though, is always our priority.  Without planting there is no harvest.”

Chris explained that in an average year they’ll usually plant approximately 500 acres but this year “…we hope to end up with about 700 [acres].”

My friend provided me with some interesting facts.

He said that they always try to plant the low-lying and black soil fields first.  With a good planting, each field can yield as many as four crops.  He also stressed that good drainage is essential to sugarcane land.

In my many years of talking to cane farmers, I’ve learned that the planting phase in the agricultural cycle is of the highest importance.  Like skilled military strategists, our farmers meticulously plan this annual operation.

Chris told me that he and his dad regularly pore over maps of their scattered cane properties detailing which fields are to be planted.  Yield records are also consulted.

He remarked that they hire about 10 tractor drivers and bring in a Mexican crew exclusively for planting.

“This year we had 18 men in the fields and without our legal seasonal workers we wouldn’t be able to plant our cane,” Chris admitted.

A few years ago, wanting to experience the planting phase of our sugar cane industry, I worked temporarily with Chris and Mark in the fields. After that season, my respect and admiration for both our farmers and their employees increased tremendously.  Planting is quite an undertaking for all of those involved.

 In a way, I feel that a well-planted sugar cane field is a continuing chronicle inscribed by dauntless men who toil in order to leave their signatures on the Teche Country’s rich soil.

O.J. GONZALEZis a native and resident of Jeanerette. He graduated from USL in printmaking and photography and his photographs have appeared in publications in Louisiana, Alaska, Canada, New Zealand and England.