Everything You Wanted to Know About Sugarcane Farming

Friday, April 5th
9:30-10:15
Sliman Theater
129 East Main St.

Sugar cane farming is more than a job to Eddie J. Lewis III, it’s a way of life. As early as the 1920’s, Eddie’s ancestors started growing sugar cane in Louisiana with only 4 acres of land. Through generations of hard work and commitment, they have grown to as much as 4,000 acres at their largest. As a 5^th generation sugar cane farmer, the family business is a point of pride for Eddie and his family. His son, age 10, is now the 6^th generation to cultivate sugar: operating tractors, managing his own few acres and improving the family legacy as a young entrepreneur. At one point in the early 80’s their family farm had 30 employees and every single one was a blood relative. Eddie shared that “aunts, uncles, we had everybody in the field,” and then as the growth continued, they started hiring in the community.

After growing up farming with his family, Eddie’s father encouraged him to leave the family business and pursue a college degree. Eddie reluctantly left the family business and became a stockbroker after graduating from University of Louisiana. Despite his desire to return to farming, Eddie found great success as a stockbroker and honored his father’s wishes to keep his corporate job until his father passed away in 2011 and he knew the family business needed him.