Crop Over 2026 has officially begun with a call for Barbadians to remember the festival’s roots while embracing the future.

The message came during the Ceremonial Delivery of the Last Canes at Queen’s Park, where four outstanding sugar workers were honoured for decades of dedicated service to the island’s agricultural sector.

Chairman of the National Cultural Foundation, Dr. Jasmine Babb, said the ceremony remains one of the country’s most meaningful cultural traditions because it connects modern Crop Over to its origins in the sugar industry.