Pennsylvania Tobacco Rebound Fruitful for Farms

Source from:  www.pittsburghlive.com 02/17/2009

If he had the manpower, David Zimmerman would plant more tobacco in the fields of his 60-acre Lancaster County farm. Last year, the Mennonite farmer and his son planted 12 acres of burley - a light, air-cured tobacco perfect for cigarettes - and left his remaining acres for corn, potatoes and soybeans. The Zimmermans harvested about 2,000 pounds of tobacco leaves per acre after a season that started in early March, when they planted seeds in their greenhouse, and ended in late November, when they sold the last of the dried leaves. It's backbreaking work, the kind that "sorts the men from the boys," he said. But burley tobacco offers a good return per acre - about $1.75 per pound of leaves - so he'll begin planting seedlings in about six weeks. "That's a lot better than corn or soybeans," Zimmerman said, noting he gets only "a couple hundred" dollars per acre for those crops. A decade ago, Pennsylvania farmers thought growing tobacco was risky business. However, production reports show the crop is making a comeback in the state, where many farmers are bucking a national trend and turning to tobacco to turn a profit. Marc Tosiano, director of the state field office for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service, said reports released Jan. 12 show the state's tobacco production is rising after decades of decline. "We're seeing a bit of resurgence," he said. Pennsylvania always held a place in the 13-state tobacco market, according to the USDA. From 1870 to 1930, the state ranked third in the nation in tobacco production, trailing only Kentucky and Virginia; today, it falls in seventh place. Tosiano said the state's tobacco production peaked in 1918, with a harvest of 49,000 acres. Afterward, production began a downward slide, dipping dramatically in the 1930s when farmers here rejected a price-stabilizing federal quota system that entitled license-holders to a chunk of the nation's total tobacco crop with limits capped each year by the USDA. The state's tobacco production nearly ground to a halt several years after the nation's landmark 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between major tobacco companies and states that filed lawsuits to recover health care costs for treating people with smoking-related illnesses. Tobacco companies agreed to pay states $294 billion during 25 years. Production here fell to its lowest point in 2001, with a harvest of 3,100 acres, Tosiano said. But by the time Congress lifted the quota system in 2004, Pennsylvania farmers lured by the promise of profits apparently had set aside any hesitancy about growing tobacco. A crop production summary released this month shows the state's approximately 500 growers harvested 7,900 acres last year. The state's production increased from 6.8 million pounds in 2002 to 17.6 million pounds in 2008, according to the USDA. Overall, the nation's tobacco growers harvested 427,310 acres in 2002 and just 354,190 acres in 2008. The 2002 U.S. tobacco production level of 871 million pounds fell to 800 million pounds last year, the summary showed. Tosiano said during the quota years, growers planted only Maryland tobacco, a blend used in some cigarettes. When the quota was lifted, growers changed to burley, which is ideal for cigarettes, pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco. David Conrad, a University of Maryland Cooperative Extension tobacco specialist, said most tobacco growers are concentrated in Lancaster County and other centrally located counties. He said the state's midsection is a good place for the crop. "Barns are good for curing, the farmers have the know-how to handle the plant and the air-curing knowledge for burley and other flue-cured tobacco," Conrad said. "The region supports it, with the geographic conditions and the geology, and the growers know how to raise it." Many are Amish and Mennonite with large families capable of handling the labor-intensive work, he said. "Almost everyone around here is growing burley," said Zimmerman, who sold his tobacco crop to cigarette maker Philip Morris USA for a tidy profit. "We had 10 children, but we don't have many with us here now. The women help, but it's not enough. "I'd like to grow more." Enditem