Mexican rice borers have crawled into southwestern Louisiana
rice plants and are heading for the nation's sugar bowl, where
the inch-long moth grubs are a much bigger threat. Although they
can do serious damage in rice fields, crawling in and out of the
narrow stalks makes the caterpillars vulnerable to pesticides,
while fat sugar canes give them permanent shelter, LSU
Agricultural Center entomologist Gene Reagan said. Louisiana
grows about 40 percent of the nation's sugar, with another 45
percent or more grown in Florida. It's the nation's third-
biggest rice-growing state, behind Arkansas and California. The
one Louisiana rice paddy where Mexican rice borers have been
found so far was near Vinton, though they probably are in
others, AgCenter rice expert Johnny Saichuk said Tuesday. "It
causes what farmers call a whitehead. ... Grains are blanked out
because there's no nutrients being carried up" the injured stem,
he said. He said the Vinton-area farmer had planted his other
rice fields with insecticide-treat