Tobacco Crops Rise, But Down From A Decade Ago

Source from:  DET News 08/29/2011

Shelbyville, Ky.- It's harvest time in much of the nation's tobacco patches and this year's harvest is expected to be among the smallest in at least a decade. Farmers are expected to produce 726 million pounds of tobacco, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. That's up 1 percent from 2010, but down nearly 28 percent from a decade ago when more than 991 million pounds made its way into cigarettes and other products. Tax hikes, bans, health concerns and social stigma have driven a decline in cigarette sales, but the drop is less stark outside the U.S. Growing markets like Asia are offsetting worldwide declines and contributing greatly to U.S. exports. Gene Witt's 46th tobacco crop might be his last in a part of the country where the "golden leaf" was once an economic mainstay. The crop that helped build much of the South and was once celebrated at festivals now seems more a vestige of the past. Witt, 62, said he's increasingly worn down by the unpredictability of tobacco farming - from the weather to the tobacco companies that sign up farmers under production contracts to supply them with leaf. The companies can pick and choose what part of a crop they want to buy at market. "It used to be fun and you made some money," Witt said. "You're not making as much money now and it's not as fun." U.S. tobacco production has fallen sharply since the 2004 tobacco buyout, which ushered in a free-market system to replace a Depression-era price support program. The venerable program was reeling from steep declines in tobacco demand due to anti-smoking efforts. Some tobacco companies also have set their sights on crops overseas, where tobacco can often be grown less expensively. In Kentucky, the nation's top producer of burley tobacco - an ingredient in many cigarettes - farmers are expected to bring 126 million pounds to market, down about 11 percent from last year and down nearly 43 percent from 10 years ago. Agriculture officials expect Tennessee tobacco farmers to produce about 54 million pounds this season, up more than 18 percent from last year. Tennessee is the nation's No. 2-producer of burley, but farmers there also grow fire-cured tobacco used in pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff. Paul Denton, professor of plant sciences at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, said the Tennessee yields might turn out to be disappointing, though, as very dry conditions have hurt fields in the north-central part of the state centered on Macon County. Meanwhile, U.S. growers of a lighter variation of the golden leaf called flue-cured tobacco in areas like North Carolina and Virginia are forecast to produce more than 465 million pounds, up about 3 percent from last year. Increases in flue-cured tobacco production are due to a new but unidentified purchaser, U.S. Growers Direct, said David Reed from Virginia Tech's Southern Piedmont Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Reed and others said the tobacco is headed for the Asian cigarette market and exports have played a big role for U.S. tobacco farmers. However, the upcoming selling season could be crucial in determining how many farmers sign up with tobacco companies to grow another crop next year, said University of Kentucky agricultural economist Will Snell. Decrease in demand has caused some tobacco farmers not to put much or any money into rehabbing old tobacco barns used to hang and dry their crop. And with grain prices high, some farmers might opt to get out of costly tobacco growing and convert that land into corn or soybean production. Others might turn tobacco plots into pastures for beef cattle. "Growers just can't sustain," Reed said about the costs and uncertainty of being a tobacco farmer. "You just can't keep doing that." Enditem