Tobacco Farmers Need the Support

Source from:  chathamdailynews.ca By KIM COOPER 09/27/2008

If you travel out in South Chatham-Kent, south of Highway 3 (Talbot Trail), between Kent Bridge and Cedar Springs, you will see a number of barns with smoke coming out of them. These are smoke barns and are used in the curing of black tobacco. First of all, this smoke you are seeing and smelling is not tobacco smoke. It is smoke from the burning process on the floor of the smoke barn used to cure the tobacco. Farmers in our area use a combination of corn cobs, wood and sawdust. The smoking changes the tobacco leaves from green to brown in three separate burnings, over a span of six to eight weeks. The three separate burnings are for colouring, flavouring and drying. So you can rest easier knowing you are not breathing second hand smoke. This smoke would be the same you would smell and experience at a camp fire. If you do have breathing problems, this smoke may still bother you, but it is not smoke from tobacco. The smoke barns are within close proximity to one another because the tobacco is grown in a small geographic area of South Chatham-Kent. The farmers who own these barns try to be as considerate as they can to their neighbours when it comes to the smoke, but they also need to dry the tobacco in a short period of time for quality reasons. There are approximately 60 farmers with 250 smoke barns who grow about 2,000 acres of black tobacco. The tobacco industry in Chatham-Kent brings hundreds of thousands of dollars into our local economy every year. The black tobacco is mainly used for cigars, cigar wrappers and snuff. Fluecured tobacco, which is grown mainly in the Tillsonburg-Delhi area, is used for cigarettes. Ninety- five per cent of all Canadian tobacco production occurs in southwestern Ontario. Tobacco is a very labour intensive crop, starting with cutting, piling and placing each tobacco plant on a pole containing five tobacco plants. These poles are hung on specially designed wagons. These wagons are taken to the smoke barn, where the individual poles with the five tobacco plants are unloaded one by one and hung in the barn to undergo the smoking process. After the six to eight weeks of smoking, curing and drying, the tobacco plants are unloaded from the smoking barn, packed in boxes and delivered to the buyer. Most of the tobacco farmers use a combination of local and imported labour. It is difficult for our growers to find local labour and so they have to rely more on offshore workers. The labourers from overseas certainly add to our local economy, as they purchase and send many goods back to their home country. Now you know more about the black tobacco industry and what is involved in this very labour-intensive industry. Our Chatham-Kent farmers try to be as considerate as they can during their busy harvest times. We also need to be supportive and understanding of their business practises. Good neighbours support each other. Think about this -- God offers you an opportunity beyond your lifetime. Enditem