Tobacco Farmers Trying to Save Water-Soaked crop

Source from:  By Nathan Leaf 608-252-6126 nleaf@madison.com  09/10/2007

While some Wisconsin tobacco producers should have a good crop this year, the area 's extremely wet August is expected to make for a down year overall. Early summer conditions promised a good crop with some farmers harvesting by the beginning of August, which is "unheard of, " David Fischer, Dane County 's crops and soils agent with UW-Extension, said. But wet weather during the rest of the month limited tobacco harvesting to just six days. This has led to over-ripe tobacco, which affects the taste, and also made it difficult to cure tobacco in the shed, Fischer said. "You can 't get tobacco dried down when it 's 90 percent relative humidity out, " he said. "We are going to have some producers that will have harvested a very good crop. Their yields could easily be above average for the year. But when we average those in with the producers that lost their entire crop, either due to shed problems or field problems, we are probably going to come in with what is a well below average yield this year. " Typically that over-ripe tobacco would not be acceptable, but Fischer said tobacco buyers and companies will take it because demand is high this year. Fischer advised farmers to talk to their respective tobacco buyers before deciding to destroy any over-ripe crops. 、、、、 Dane County planted about 1,000 acres of the roughly 1,400 total acres in the state this year. The tobacco planted in Wisconsin is used primarily for chewing tobacco but recently farmers have begun planting burley tobacco used mostly in cigarettes. Dave Olson, who farms 14 acres of tobacco near Utica about 20 miles southeast of Madison, has finished harvesting his crop, which is now stored in a shed to cure over the winter. While wet weather drowned a few spots of his crop during August, Olson said it has rebounded. "(The tobacco) looked like it was going to be sort of rough but it 's turned around, " he said. "It 's going to be fair. ... Now it 's gotten a chance to mature. But you never know, it could go to heck in the shed. " Jerry Anderson, who farms four acres in the town of Pleasant Springs about 15 miles southeast of Madison, has cut about half of his crop this year. He said the tobacco will be "fair " but expects a yield about 20 percent less than average. The wet weather and wind made it difficult to harvest and he said the dampness could also affect the drying process. "It looks good but we got a lot of wind (damage), " he said. "It didn 't get as tall as it normally does and the weight wasn 't the greatest. ... Otherwise it should be a pretty decent year if it cures out in the shed. And I hear there have been some problems with that. " Enditem