Virginia Tobacco Acreage Increasing

Source from:  By the Associated Press July 6, 2006 RICHMOND, Va. 07/07/2006

Virginia tobacco acreage is forecast to grow about 29 percent this year after dipping to a record low in 2005, according o the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A survey conducted by the agency last month showed Virginia farmers expect to plant 22,180 acres of tobacco, an increase of more than 5,000 acres from the previous year. Despite the rebound, production remains well below the more than 50,000 acres grown a decade ago. Much of the growth can be attributed to farmers having less tobacco left over from previous seasons. About 20 percent of the 42.5 million pounds of Virginia tobacco sold in 2005 was harvested the year before, said Stan Duffer, regional market manager for the Virginia Department of Agriculture. With less carry-over leaf to sell this year, farmers planted more acres. Another likely factor is growing demand for U.S.-grown tobacco. In 2004, Congress approved a $10 billion buyout of the federal tobacco-quota program, eliminating government-mandated price supports. The result is lower, more competitive prices for domestic tobacco. "The buyout is having the intended results: to allow our tobacco to be sold more widely on the world market, and to be used more widely by the domestic (cigarette) companies to replace imported tobacco," said Don Anderson, a Halifax County farmer and executive director of the Virginia Tobacco Growers' Association. According to the USDA, virtually all the growth is in flue-cured tobacco, the most common variety grown in Southside Virginia and the key type in cigarettes. The flue-cured harvest is expected to be about 19,000 acres this year, up from about 14,000 acres in 2005. Tobacco brought $113 million in cash receipts for Virginia farmers in 2004 but was surpassed as the state's top cash crop by soybeans, which generated $124.3 million. Soybeans remain the No. 1 crop this year in terms of acreage. Virginia farmers planted 530,000 acres of soybeans this year, unchanged from last year. Cotton acreage is up 8 percent to 100,000 acres, and corn is up 4 percent to 510,000 acres. Virginia farmers are growing 13,000 acres of peanuts, a decline of 10,000 acres last year. As recently as five years ago, the state grew 75,000 acres of peanuts. Plantings have been declining since Congress eliminated the decades-old peanut quota and price-support system in 2002. Enditem