Sugarcane research station works toward relocation

Wow, we were the lead story of the Houma Courier today with the header, "Sugar cane research station works slowly toward relocation." Our new facility seems to be an elusive dream, but the announcement of $3.2 million in federal money last week by U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., being secured during the Senate Appropriations Committee markup of the Agriculture Appropriations Bill, is good news. The Bill is expected to head to a Senate vote later this year. I recommend that anyone interested in the future of sugarcane as both a sugar and energy crop read the entire article AND the related links.

Another compelling story in the Houma Courier had to do with an 11-year old boy who survived a vicious alligator attack on the North Shore in the Slidell area. It's well worth the read (along with the related link), just for the human interest side of this story, but more because it highlights how dangerous alligators can be in this area, especially when we start taking them for granted. The commonly used term, North Shore (which means something entirely different to surfers from Hawaii), refers to the north side of Lake Pontchartrain.

Sugarbeets and Sugarcane played important roles in LDS Church History

Sugarbeets and sugarcane were both surprisingly integral to the economic history of the LDS Church in Utah and Hawaii. Leonard J. Arrington, LDS Church Historian for several years, provided a brief synopsis of the beet sugar industry in Utah, in which he cited two of his own works, namely the widely acclaimed Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900 (1958), and Beet Sugar in the West: A History of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1891-1966 (1966). While visiting Salt Lake City, Utah some 30 years ago, I happened to spot a hardback copy of the latter book at a Deseret Bookstore. I got the urge to buy it, because, at the time, I was doing sugar research in Hawaii, and I knew that my father had worked in the beet sugar factory that was located in Spanish Fork, Utah, and that he had much experience with sugar beets. There was a connection. My brother, John, was visiting Utah at the same time. On a whim, I convinced John to join me in visiting Dr. Arrington at his residence in Salt Lake City. It was a very pleasant visit, considering that Dr. Arrington didn’t know either of us, and he agreed to sign the book. Sorry to say, when we left Hawaii in a rush in 1993, I believe that this book was one of the many casualties that never made it back to the mainland with us.

In Hawaii, the early Latter-day Saints settled in Laie, where they established a sugar plantation. It was later absorbed by the Kahuku plantation a few miles further northwest of Laie, which remained active until 1975, just two years shy of when Judy and I arrived in Hawaii. The history of sugarcane in Laie is woven into the outlined history of the town online. The most compelling picture at this website, related to sugarcane was taken around 1928 (see above), where one can easily see that the LDS Hawaii Temple grounds are practically surrounded by sugarcane. We lived on the windward side of Oahu in the town of Kahaluu, about 20 miles (30 minutes) from Laie. There was (and as far as I know still is) some abandoned sugarcane that can be observed from the road between Punaluu and Laie.

While sugarcane and sugarbeets played a significant role in the history of the Church, the role has long since diminished into insignificance…just nostalgic memories now.

Tropical Sugarbeets

Recently, I was made aware that a seed company, Syngenta, had some varieties of so-called Tropical Sugarbeets. They are targeted primarily for growers in India, for the same areas that sugarcane is grown in. There is an entire slide show available online introducing the tropical sugarbeet. I found it quite interesting, because it compares sugarbeets with sugarcane, primarily for the benefit of Indian farmers. The names of the three tropical beet varieties are Pasoda, Hi 0064, and Doratea. While recoverable sugar content in sugarcane is described as being in the 11-12% range, it is in the 15-16% range in sugarbeet. Any sugarcane farmer knows that sugar content greatly affects profitability, especially as energy costs associated with harvesting, hauling, and processing of the crop keep increasing. In relatively dry areas, sugarbeets have the advantage of requiring only about 1/3 as much water as does sugarcane to produce a crop. In relatively wet areas, sugarbeets have historically had a much greater problem with devastating diseases. Farmers in Louisiana have tried growing sugarbeets, and have had good success in getting a nice looking crop, only to see some disease destroy the crop almost overnight in the heat and humidity of the Louisiana's summers. I honestly don't know what advantages tropical sugarbeets have over non-tropical beets. I can only speculate that it would be in the areas of heat and disease resistance.

One question I have is whether sugarbeets have ever been tried in southern Louisiana in the wintertime. Louisiana is well known for its fall/winter gardens, and red beets (Beta vulgaris) which is the same species as sugarbeets, is most logically grown as a fall/winter vegetable, along with such other vegetables as broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard (a relative), kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, onions, peas, potatoes, radishes, rutabagas, shallots, and turnips. If red beets succeed in southern Louisiana as a fall/winter-grown vegetable, why not grow sugarbeets in Louisiana in the winter as well? In Louisiana, I would think that sugarbeets would best succeed in the more transition areas that sugarcane is grown in, i.e., north of I-10, and not so much in the deep south Bayou Country, particularly in the heavy soil areas. California has two distinctive areas where sugarbeets are grown. One is largely in the highly productive San Joaquin Valley where sugarbeets are a summer crop, planted in March/April and harvested in September/October; the other is in the hot Imperial Valley, just north of Mexico, where beets are a winter crop, planted in September and harvested in April/May/June, as I understand. I think it would be interesting to try to grow sugarbeets here in the fall, at least on a small experimental basis, and see what happens.

Dog Days of Summer in Southern Louisiana

I have always thought that the hottest and coldest days of the year follow the longest and shortest days by about one month. That would mean that this week would be the hottest...and it hasn't disappointed...it was hot and miserable. The last couple of days, I have been with the group where I work that visually evaluates commercial sugarcane variety candidates this time of year, grading, taking stalk counts, looking for disease and insect damage, and noting other characteristics. We usually join up with our peers from the Louisiana State University AgCenter at the later stages of testing, because our varieties are put in the same tests and evaluated together.

Frankly, I have a difficult time staying outdoors for very long this time of year. I will lose more than a gallon of water in the time it takes for me to mow our lawn (less than 1 hr). I can walk outdoors in the early morning when the humidity is 100% and do absolutely nothing. In 15-20 minutes, I'm soaking wet. I thought I knew what humidity was, having lived in Hawaii, but after moving here, I got re-educated. You can track our weather at our farm here at the Houma location.

Our spring-summer garden has finished producing, so I tilled it up this past weekend. It was a better than average year. We had 18 tomato plants and each produced about a 5-gallon bucket of tomatoes much of which Judy preserved as V-8 style tomato juice. Other successes from the garden were bush beans, cantaloupes, corn, cow peas, cucumbers, onions, peppers, and watermelons. Outside the garden area, we had a terrific harvest of blackberries and grapes. Judy preserved the grapes as bottled grape juice. Failures and near failures included broccoli, peas, and potatoes, all of which were simply planted the wrong time of year for southern Louisiana.

In the evening, it gets a little more comfortable. A good time to kick back and enjoy some Louisiana music such as found at the LouisianaTravel website. Click on "Listen" then "Listen now" and find your favorite flavor of local music.

Verenium Awarded DOE Grant to Support Cellulosic Ethanol Biorefinery in Jennings LA

Quoting the U.S. Department of Energy announcement on July 14, "The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the selection of two small-scale cellulosic biorefinery projects in Park Falls, Wis. and Jennings, La. for federal funding of up to $40 million over five years. These projects will further President Bush’s goal of making cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive with corn-based ethanol by 2012, and help reduce America’s gasoline use by expanding the availability of alternative and renewable transportation fuels." The Jennings facility is owned and operated by Verenium, headquarted at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Back in April, Verenium announced that it was commencing the start-up phase at its 1.4 million gallon per year cellulosic ethanol plant. The DOE grant money will be used to support ongoing activities at its demonstration-scale facility in Jennings. The primary feedstock is sugarcane bagasse which can be stored and utilized year around. If the cellulosic technology used at Verenium is validated, and shown to be economically feasable, the next step would be full-scale commercialization. I understand this would mean going from 1.4 million gallons per year to something like 30 million gallons per year. I wasn't able to be at the "commencement" ceremony, but I was able to see the earlier 70,000 gallon per year pilot plant operating. To me, that was pretty impressive. The process for converting biomass to ethanol is described at their website. Key to their success is the use of novel microorganisms developed by scientists at the University of Florida.

Sugarcane in California and Alabama

Within the U.S., sugarcane has been commercially grown in four states, namely Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii, and Texas. With renewed interest in sugarcane as a bioenergy crop, it appears that two additional states could become large-scale sugarcane growers, namely California and Alabama.

California. This state is already growing a significant amount of cane in the Imperial Valley, and has shown interest in experimenting with cane in the San Joaquin Valley as far north as Fresno. Of course, cane cannot compete with high value crops in the San Joaquin Valley, but there may be specific locations and/or situations where growing a versatile energy crop that has a low maintenance requirement would make sense. Whether cane is capable of being grown as far north as Fresno isn't even the issue. There is no doubt that it can. The minimum winter temperatures there are no different than those in the north end of Louisiana's sugar belt (just south of Alexandria). The Hmong community has been marketing sugarcane stalks grown around Fresno for years, and the varieties they use look to be the more tropical large-barreled chewing cane types that they probably brought with them from SE Asia.

Alabama. This state is thinking very seriously about getting into energy cane production. From a temperature standpoint, there should be no problem in growing sugarcane, particularly in the southern end of the State. If Alabama makes a commitment to produce ethanol from sugarcane by building a plant, they will be obligated to start increasing sugarcane quickly and substantially. This will be interesting to watch.

SPEBSQSA changed to BHS

The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America has now become the Barbershop Harmony Society, while retaining the old title on their books for legal and sentimental reasons. This is the official organization for barbershop choruses and quartets in the U. S. The organization is actually international with a fairly sizeable number of chapters in Canada, the U. K., and elsewhere.

I was fortunate enough to have been part of a very successful barbershop chorus (Skyline Chorus) in Utah Valley while living in Provo. I miss the comradery that was felt, being part of this wonderful organization, and dearly wish we had a chorus close to home here in the Houma-Thibodaux area. There are barbershop choruses in Baton Rouge (Showboat Chorus) and New Orleans (Mardi Gras Chorus). Choruses are able to perform throughout the year in a wide range of venues. They usually put on an annual show, inviting world class quartets (often very humorous) to be part of their show. They also compete with each other at a regional level, and if good enough, at an international level. The Society just had their most recent international competition (early July) in Nashville. Choruses also have breakout quartets that perform on the side in their own venues.

To get a flavor of what a barbershop chorus is like, and a sense of why I miss being part of one as much as I do, I found this video made by The Southern Gateway Chorus based in Cincinnati. Go to their website and click on "Irish Blessing." This brief song, and how it is harmonized, will give you a sense why participants often describe barbershop singing as a spiritual experience. Some of the patriotic songs we sang brought tears to my eyes every time I sang them. And of course, barbershop wouldn't be barbershop without havin' a fun time while singing some hilarious songs, and doing some pretty silly antics on stage while singing them. Check out the Chordiac Arrest Quartet...they're one of the best, when it comes to keeping the audiences entertained!

Finally, getting back to that original acronym, SPEBSQSA. Back in Utah, how we remembered it was, "Stake Presidents & Bishops should quit singing altogether!" (only LDS members may appreciate this)

U. S. sugar outlook

Each year, sugarcane-related presentations are given by scientists, extension agents, and representatives of the sugar industry at various meetings and field days. One such meeting was held recently under the auspices of the American Sugar Cane League (ASCL) contact committee. Representatives of the U.S. sugar industry (beets and cane) from Washington D.C. were present. Among the presentations that were given at this meeting, perhaps the one that would be of greatest interest to a general audience was the one entitled "U. S. Sugar Outlook" by Jack Roney of the American Sugar Alliance. His PowerPoint presentation illustrates quite comprehensively what the status of the sugar industry is in the U. S. Jack also addressed why he is cautiously optimistic about the industry's future.

Friends from Provo staying in Houma

We got a surprise call, and learned that Lynn & Laurel Odgen and some BYU students were in Houma, staying at the home of Mike & Sarah Voisin. They were in our church ward in Provo, so we knew them quite well. They were attending a food convention/conference in New Orleans, and had the opportunity afterward to visit the oyster processing plant in Houma that Mike and his family run. The Voisins have developed a unique method of processing oysters that give them a distinctive competitive edge, so Lynn apparently wanted his students to see this. Lynn is a professor in the Food Science Department at BYU. His claim to fame is that he developed and perfected carbonated yogurt. His product used to sell off the shelves at the BYU Creamery on Campus. Through much effort on his part, and with support from BYU, his product was picked up by Yoplait, and today sells as "Fizzix." Lynn said the 3rd quarter information is coming in from Yoplait, so they will have a decent feel as to how well the product is selling after that. We told them we have become hooked on Fizzix. I only wish it could be packaged more similar to the product we used to buy at the BYU Creamery. Lynn and Laurel came over and filled us in on happenings in our old ward and on where their kids are at. I forgot that they had so many children. I remember their daughter Lena & her husband being in our ward, before we left. Their kids are scattered, just like ours are. It was fun to see the Ogdens, and we're glad they called us so we could connect.

Truvia, the latest non-nutritive sweetener

Mirror, mirror on the wall, what is the best non-nutritive sweetener of all??? Cargill and Coca Cola would like you to think it is rebiana, a "natural" zero-calorie sweetener derived from the leaves of the stevia plant. They jointly developed the product that will go on the market this year under the brand name, Truvia.

First, there was saccharin; then aspartame (Brand name: Nutrasweet); then sucralose (Brand name: Splenda); now rebiana (Brand name: Truvia), a term used for "the best-tasting components of the stevia plant." In May, Cargill introduced Truvia as the first natural, zero-calorie sweetener. Truvia apparently does not have an unpleasant aftertaste often associated with non-nutritient sweeteners.

Quoting an article in "Beverage Industry," stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) is a plant related to chrysanthemum that is native to Paraguay, but commercially grown today primarily in China. Leaves from the stevia shrub are harvested and dried, then steeped in water in a process similar to making tea. The process releases the 'best tasting part of the leaf,' which is then purified to make a food grade ingredient called rebiana, which is about 200 times sweeter than table sugar. The natural sweetener is heat and pH stable, so that it can be used across an array of beverage and food products.