When cane is one year old, a chopper/harvester machine pulled by a combine tractor cuts the 8-foot tall cane and it spits it out into a side wagon as 6-8” pieces. When it’s filled, the wagon is brought to the sugar mill, within 12-24 hours, before it starts souring.

Once at the mill, the cane is cut into small pieces with a large cutter making it easier to squeeze the cane juice. The sliced cane pass through a series of 5 large roller mills, squeezing more and more juice out each time. This dirty juice is then boiled at high temperatures, crystallized through spinning process using a large centrifuge, and then left out to dry as a brown sugar. The sugar is stored in massive warehouses waiting distribution and refining.

Working with this humble sugar cane farmer, Artie Ourso, has been a “sweet” experience. Artie “Black” Jude Ourso, age 52, is one of 3 brothers who own Ourso Farms. He’s worked the fields since he was a young teenager with his father who started Ourso Farms. At age 24 when Artie and his brothers bought the farm from their father, they owned only 500 acres of land. Today, they own 2000 acres and lease 4500 acres. This land is used to primarily grow sugar cane and soybeans, but they also have two large crawfish ponds that generate money during the first several months of the year during crawfish harvest season.