Burley Tobacco Growing in Western Wisconsin

Source from:  wxow.com July 2, 2007 07/03/2007

The state's burley tobacco crop has grown from virtually no acreage two years ago, to about 200 acres this year. Farmers say an acre of burley tobacco can be worth four-thousand dollars before expenses, more than six times the value of corn. But, it requires tedious, manual labor. Plants are harvested and leaves are stripped by hand. Tobacco giant Philip Morris is faced with shortages of the crop, and is looking beyond the traditional Southern states. Burley tobacco is used mainly for cigarettes. The crop grown here has lower levels of cancer-causing chemicals than plants grown in the mid-South because of Wisconsin's longer, cooler, sunny days in the summer. Overall tobacco production in Wisconsin covered nearly 30-thousand acres 60 years ago. Tobacco growers today are concentrated in Vernon, Rock and Dane counties. Enditem