From Sugar Mills to Cotton Fields
Here’s a sweet story coming out of the South. Researchers with ARS in New Orleans have found a new way to boost cotton yields, and it starts with sugar.
Not the kind you stir into coffee, but what’s left behind after sugarcane is processed. That material, called biochar, is a burned residue from sugar mills. It is rich in carbon, and when added to soil, it turns out to be very beneficial for crops.
In cotton fields treated with biochar, lint yield increased by as much as 22 percent. Cottonseed yield also rose, by up to 13 percent over three years. And the benefits did not stop there. Corn grown in the same conditions saw yields climb by 16 percent in that same period.
It is a simple idea with big results. Cooks have always known that adding a little sugar can improve the outcome. Now farmers across the region may be able to do the same, using what was once just a byproduct to grow stronger, more productive crops.
