Sugarcane Harvest Ramps Up With Beginning Of Grinding Season

It's a very familiar site along the rural roads and major highways of south Louisiana. Trucks loaded with freshly harvested sugarcane heading to be processed.

It's time when drivers need to  pay special attention for slow moving farm vehicles and slick spots on the roadways in and around the cane fields.

Jim Simon,a spokesperson with American Sugarcane League offers this advice for motorist,

"If you're in an area with a lot of sugar cane activity and traffic, you probably should leave just a little bit early and give yourself a little bit of extra time so you're not forced to rush and make poor driving decisions."

Simon's comments were reported by the Louisiana Radio Network.

This year's grinding season is about a week or ten days later than usual. Most observers feel that this years crop will be a little short compared to the bumper crops the industry has seen over the past few seasons. The late start to the summer warmth and the cooler than average spring really slowed this years crop down.

Several of the state's sugar mills have already begun operation and it is expected that by October the 10th all 11 of the state's sugar mills will be in production. As more mills come on line motorist can expect increased traffic around the mills and cane fields and a greater number of transport vehicles on the roadways at all hours of the day.