U.S. Sens. Cassidy, Boozman visit AgCenter Sugar Research Station

Funding for agricultural research — which helps protect the livelihoods of countless American farmers, ensure national security and promote economic development — is critical, U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Boozman said during a July 12 visit to the LSU AgCenter Sugar Research Station in St. Gabriel.

Cassidy, of Louisiana, and Boozman, of Arkansas, toured the station, where they saw the fields and facilities where scientists develop new, higher-yielding sugarcane varieties as well as strategies to help farmers manage pests and improve other aspects of production.

With farm bill discussions currently underway in Congress, the senators highlighted the importance of supporting agricultural research efforts like those they saw during their visit to the station.

The farm bill is an omnibus law that authorizes and funds numerous programs affecting agriculture, food and rural communities. It must be renewed every five years.

“One of the things that we’ve got to do in the next farm bill is have more investment in research going forward, more investment in facilities,” Boozman said. “That really is the answer, I think, to the problems we’ll be facing in the future with the growing population throughout the world, with needing to be more efficient. These are the kinds of research facilities that will give us the advice and provide the information that we need.”

Boozman, the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, found value in seeing the activities of a research station firsthand.

“I appreciate Sen. Cassidy inviting me down,” he said. “We can talk about these things, we can look at spreadsheets in Washington, but there’s no substitute for actually getting out and visiting with the people.”

Cassidy too stressed the need for more research dollars.

“I’m a big believer that research helps drive an economy,” he said. “Not only does it drive an economy — it actually attracts younger people here to study.”

He added: “It’s the food and fiber that we all rely on — but it’s also economic development for our region.”

That’s especially important as rural communities across America cope with population loss and economic difficulties, the senators said. Agriculture is a key component of rural economies, but staying in business is increasingly a challenge for many farmers.

“Right now, it’s very, very difficult in the farm economy,” Boozman said. “When you look at the cost of putting a crop in the ground and getting it grown, and then you take the yield and how much it produces, the prices you’re going to get — it’s not a pretty story. The average return on investment for farming right now, if you can get it, is 2%. It’s very low.”

He also noted that the average age of American farmers is 59, making it crucial to get young people interested in joining the agricultural workforce.

Cassidy pointed out that there is reason for optimism.

“There is, I think, an increasing interest among younger people who don’t want to grow up wearing ties and sports coats — they actually want to be outside with nature producing that food and fiber we all rely on,” he said.

A federal infrastructure bill, which recently passed with bipartisan support, along with previous farm bills have allotted funding to improve broadband internet access in rural areas.

“That can actually help improve farm management,” Cassidy said, because of the sophisticated, high-tech nature of modern agriculture.

After spending a few minutes providing comments to local reporters, Cassidy and Boozman met with AgCenter administrators and scientists. Brayden Blanchard, an AgCenter quantitative geneticist, then led the group on a walking tour of the station grounds.

The senators heard about how the research station — whose roots date back to 1885 — has allowed the industry to succeed in Louisiana. Sugarcane contributes more than $1 billion to the state’s economy annually.

“We’ve increased our annual yield,” said AgCenter sugarcane specialist Kenneth Gravois. “We doubled it from 1930 to 1970. We doubled the yields again from 1970 to today. We’ve lengthened the crop cycle, the number of annual crops we get from a single planting. And we’ve reduced our pesticide applications. If that’s not sustainable ag production, I don’t know what is. And that’s research.”

Louisiana growers face unique hurdles. Sugarcane is a tropical plant, but Louisiana has a subtropical climate. Farmers in other parts of the world employ vastly different growing techniques and schedules.

“Louisiana is the unicorn of sugarcane production around the world,” said station resident coordinator Al Orgeron. “We have the shortest sugarcane growing season in the world. We have winter freezes no one else has to compete with. It puts our crop at an extreme disadvantage.”

Yet Louisiana farmers have thrived, he said, thanks to AgCenter research advances such as new varieties and improved planting methods.

“We are very proud of this particular station, where over the years our scientists have developed about 100 different varieties of sugarcane,” said Matt Lee, LSU vice president for agriculture and dean of the College of Agriculture.

About 70% of the roughly 532,000 acres of sugarcane grown in Louisiana is AgCenter varieties, Lee said. Acreage has expanded northward in recent years.

“Annually, that is putting hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars into rural producers’ pockets,” he said. “A really core part of economic development strategy for this state is to continue to do this world-class science so we can develop more varieties, more hardy varieties. We’re now growing in parts of the state … that these plants were never intended to grow in. That’s brilliant science.”

Lee talked about several other accomplishments, including:
— The AgCenter being ranked among the National Science Foundation’s top agriculture research universities.

— Record enrollment in the College of Agriculture. The number of students has been growing for seven years in a row. More than 460 freshmen are expected to enter the college this fall, marking its largest freshman class yet.

— The recent creation of an invasive species research center. This AgCenter initiative addresses invasive insects, weeds, wildlife and other species, which Lee described as “one of the biggest threats to agricultural production” in the U.S. and around the world.

— Progress on developing a lethal bait for feral hogs. LSU AgCenter and Department of Chemistry researchers received a patent for their sodium nitrite-based bait last year and are completing additional trials as they await approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Lee said he has been working with federal partners in hopes of expediting the EPA’s review, which could take up to a decade. “Wild hogs in Louisiana alone are causing about $90 million a year in damage to agricultural crops,” Lee told the senators, noting that feral swine are a problem nationwide. “None of us can afford to wait 10 years for approval of this toxicant. If we wait 10 years, it’s $1 billion in agricultural losses just to Louisiana alone.”

Lee also spoke about the need for funding to renovate and expand research facilities, saying the AgCenter and many other land-grant institutions are coping with aging infrastructure. Nevertheless, he emphasized, “we are continuing to do world-class science.”

Farmers and other interested members of the public can see a showcase of the Sugar Research Station’s work at its annual field day Wednesday, July 17.