Louisiana sugar, rice, may be Ok despite freeze

BATON ROUGE - The LSU AgCenter says farmers and experts are "cautiously optimistic" that the recent freeze didn't do major damage to Louisiana's sugar and wheat.  AgCenter agent Blair Hebert says in a news release that about 10 percent of the Teche area's sugarcane is still in the field, partly because farmers increased plantings.  Farmer Mark Patout tells the AgCenter that a hard freeze can split stalks, letting in bacteria that can reduce the sugar content.